


Décide Toi

by AphelionsAnathema



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Violence, adrienette - Freeform, ladrien, love square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-22 05:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 88,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6067722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AphelionsAnathema/pseuds/AphelionsAnathema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever heard of the butterfly effect? All it takes is one flap of the wings to make a storm. You never quite know why, but the choices you make can change your fate, all you have to do is make up your mind. </p><p>Lot's of love square action, plenty of angst, and a whole lot of drama.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wingwoman Alya reporting for Duty

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is mildly ooc, I apologize.
> 
> Edit: Ehhhh, I kinda feel like adding this note here upon reflection (months later and many chapters into this fic). The first chapter is kinda hella boring, mostly as a result of this having been my first time writing in nearly a year. I was really rusty. But I like to think I got into the groove of it after this one and I ask that, if you're up for this nearly novel-length, relatively typo-free, guilty pleasure fanfic, you bear with it. After this, there is lots of action, angst, kisses and drama as far as the eyes can see. This first chapter is really short anyway, it's mostly all set-up. Stuff starts happening in the next one and it's all a smooth train ride (wreck) from there :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chain of events is set in motion.

The warm spring air buzzed with the sound of excited laughter as the students of Francoise-Dupont Acedemy bustled through the halls and out the doors. A bell trilled over the commotion, signaling the end of the school day. Children busted out of classrooms and rushed to their lockers. Among them, Marinette found herself pushing through a crowd of tiny underclassmen, shouting after her best friend, Alya, to wait up.

Though their heads barely came up to her chest, the middle-schoolers, eager to run out and play under the radiant afternoon sun, created an almost impenetrable wall, impossible to pass. Marinette was so preoccupied with trying to get through without squishing them she almost didn’t notice Alya stop just ahead of her and roll her eyes. Marinette groaned, classic Alya.

She had almost managed to squeeze through the throng when she tripped over her own shoelaces. She went down with a less-that-graceful yelp and her books and binders clattered to the floor. Alya couldn’t help but giggle at her own friend’s clumsiness. As the hordes began to disperse, she reached down to help her up.

“You’re hopeless, you know that, right?”

Marinette pouted, dusting herself off, “It’s not my fault! It was just so crowded, I couldn’t help it! It was my shoes!”

Alya burst out laughing, “Your laces aren’t even untied and you still somehow tripped over them.” She smirked, “One day, your coordination is going to get you killed.”

“Or lack thereof,” Marinette smiled. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Alya helped Marinette gather her things off the floor and haphazardly shove them in her bag. As they made their merry way down the empty hall, Marinette briefly wondered if Tikki was suffocating at the bottom of the purse, cursing Marinette’s name for stuffing her underneath her school supplies. But she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Tikki could handle herself.

Outside, the air smelled faintly of the flower buds on the trees, just days from blooming. A soft breeze rustled Alya’s loose, copper locks as they walked under the cover of leafy, spring green trees. Despite the shade, the sunshine was still warm enough to pierce through the cracks in the leaves and tickle their cheeks.

Marinette sighed dreamily, “I can’t wait for the summer to start.” She flung out her arms and spun as gracefully as she could, which wasn’t particularly graceful, “It will be warm like this every day and the flowers will be blooming and I won’t have to worry about going to school or... well, not going to it,” she snorted.

“You do miss a lot of it, already,” Alya nodded, “You’ve gotta fix that alarm of yours.”

Marinette tutted, “It’s not that big a deal. Failure isn’t everything.” she joked, “I just really want summer. I need to relax.”  
“What about Adrien, though, won’t you miss your lover boy?”

Marinette scowled, “Adrien and I are going to be perfect together,” her frown turned into a certain smile and she gave a triumphant shake of the head and brought her hands to her heart, “The summer isn’t going to keep us apart.”

Alya raised an eyebrow, “You know, there are better ways to spend your summer than pining after a guy you can’t even talk to,” she said with a knowing smile, “Not that I won’t be your trusty wingwoman even if you try to.”

“You better,” Marinette replied with a grin. “You know what happened last time I tried to talk to him without a pep talk.”

Alya shuddered at the memory, then raised her hand into a salute, “Wingwoman Alya reporting for duty, sir!”

Marinette smiled and swung around, picking a bud off the low branch of a tree and twisting the stem into a sort-of ring, “With this ring, do you, Alya, promise to help me win the heart of Adrien Agreste?”

“Sir yes sir!” Alya barked with enthusiasm.

“Do you promise to stop me from laughing non-stop until he starts to think I’m a psychotic maniac whenever I try to talk to him?”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Do you promise to keep me from faceplanting into his chest again and then staying there because he smelled really, really good?”

Alya dropped the stiff, military facade, “Hon, I’m not sure anyone can stop you from doing that again, but yourself.”

“Eh, good enough,” Marinette shrugged noncommittally, “He did smell really good, though.” She held out the flower, “With this ring I take you to be my lawfully wedded wingwoman, do you accept?”

“I do!”

Marinette fiddled with the flower ring, pushing it onto Alya’s finger, or, attempting to, at least. The stem snapped and the ring fell to the ground.

“Oh Marinette,” gushed Alya, sarcastically, “You shouldn’t have!”

“Oh shut up!” she laughed in reply, gently pushing Alya in annoyance. Alya shoved back, a little harder and they continued down the road, cackling as they went.

When they neared the bakery, the scent of freshly baked croissants wafted through the air. A new batch for the afternoon crowd, Marinette imagined. Kids and parents returning home from from school and work often stopped by for a tasty snack made by her parents. Alya and Marinette took a good whiff of the delectable pastries waiting inside and strolled in. Marinette immediately made for the counter to greet her mother and father with hugs and snatched a piping hot croissant right off the pan behind them.

Sabine stifled a coy giggle, “How was school, girls?”

“Gwhueat nrow thaght igt’s gwovur,” said Marinette between bites.

Sabine’s brow furrowed.

Alya sighed, “It was great, Mrs. Cheng.” She clarified, “Everything alright, here?”

“Just the same old, same old,” Sabine hummed, pulling another pan of pastries out from the oven and offering it up to Alya, who graciously grabbed one.

Tom grinned, “Not entirely,” he interrupted, “Your friend Adrien came through this morning,” he said, winking at his daughter.

“What?!”

“Yeah, he said our quiche was super delicious, way better than what his dad’s assistant packs him. He wanted to bring it for lunch!”

Marinette scoffed, “Wait, for real? I didn’t see him this morning!”

“He came by just after you left,” Sabine replied with a gleam in her eye, side-eyeing Tom who looked awfully pleased with himself. She bumped him with her hip, “What are you so smug about?”

His eyes sparkled, “He said we’re even better than his fancy chefs at home! What about that, darling?” he mused, turning to Marinette “Are you upset you missed him and his, ‘dreamy,’ eyes, Mari?”

She huffed, “Daaad!”

Alya chuckled, “Marinette, please, you couldn’t hide a secret from anyone. You’re so obvious with everything.”

“Not everything,” Marinette mumbled with a pout.

“If only she could make coherent sentences when he’s around,” Sabine smirked.

“Mom!”

Sabine pulled Marinette in for a big hug, “I’m kidding sweetheart.” she said reassuringly, “I bet he pines after you every single day just like you do.”  
Marinette groaned, “Mo-oom!”

Her parents burst out laughing and Marinette crossed her arms, “I can talk to him and I have! I just... sometimes... start laughing nonstop instead. And then he looks weirded out and I run away and pretend it never happened.” She sighed, entering the living room and plopping onto the couch, “Though in my defense, we have had conversations before!”

Alya raised an eyebrow, sitting beside her and switching on the television. “Sure you have.”

“Uh, yeah! Remember? He even came over to practice for that game tournament?”

“Oh I just always assumed the two of you played in awkward silence until you turned so red he thought you were sick and left,” Alya retorted, much to Marinette’s dismay. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You know I’m just joking around. We love you and we’re all sure he would too if you could just talk to him and get to know him.”

Marinette pursed her lips, “Yeah, well he was here and we even had a full conversation without me turning into a sentient disaster. He was super unconfident in himself, so I gave him my lucky charm.” Her head tilted, “Now that I think about it, I don’t know if he ever gave that back.”  
“Ooh, maybe it’s a sign!” Alya said, “He loves you so much he wanted to keep a part of you!” She threw her hand up to her forehead, feigning melodrama. “He couldn’t bear to let you go!”

Marinette shoved her playfully, grabbing the remote from her hands.

Alya continued, teasing, “He looooves you-!”

A bell rang as a customer entered the store, “Who ‘looooves you,’ Marinette?” asked Nino, from the doorway.

“Nobody, nobody!” Marinette whipped around and cried, flailing her arms in denial. Sabine and Tom snorted quietly from behind the counter.

“I was wondering if you guys wanted to come to the park?” Nino gestured outside.

“I’m up for it!” Alya said, glancing at Marinette, “Will Adrien be there?”

He chuckled, “Is that who you guys were talking about?”

Marinette’s eyes widened, “No! No! Nope, we weren’t talking about anyone at all, just uh... food! Food loves me like no one else ever will and I love it back!” She hugged the croissant to her face while they made their way out the door.

“Uh-huh,” Nino smiled, unconvinced, “Relax, Marinette, it’s pretty obvious, we all know.”

“What?! Does he know?! Oh my god, this is so embarrassing,” Marinette slumped, defeated, against the wall, “Alya, kill me now! Just send me to hell where I belong!”

“Don’t worry, bro, you might be super obvious about it, but Adrien, he’s smart, but he’s also the biggest idiot I know. He has no idea.” He patted Marinette on the back, “Honestly, he wouldn’t even know if I was Ladybug, and I’m his best friend.”

Marinette’s brow raised quizzically.

“I’m kidding!” Nino shrugged, “I promise I won’t tell him a thing.”

“Oh thank goodness,” she breathed, dragging her nails at the skin of her cheeks, exasperated.

“Buuut...” Nino pursed his lips.

“But what?”

“I could put in a good word for you, ask him what he thinks? Hm?”

Alya skipped, grabbing the other two’s elbows and linking them with her own, “That’s a great idea! Marinette, why didn’t we think of this before?!”  
“What? No! Then he’ll definitely know! No way!” She exclaimed.

“Hey, I can be subtle,” Nino countered, “I just wanna help you out, come on!” Marinette looked to Alya, who answered with a shrug, “It’s not like it’s gonna hurt you, hon.”

She groaned, “You guys are going to do it no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” Nino laughed.

Alya jerked Marinette into a half-hug, “We’re doing you a favor!”

Marinette didn’t have any more time to argue before they turned the corner and ran right into Adrien.

“Hey, bro!” said Nino, “I was wondering where you were at.”

“Oh, hey, I just needed to drop some stuff off at home.”

Marinette did her best not to stare, but her best was clearly not enough. Alya thanked the heavens that Adrien was the most oblivious guy in the world.  
Nino headed for the park, leading the pack, before stopping abruptly, “Wait, I just realized I forgot something at Marinette’s house. You guys wait here I’ll be right back,” he started back to Marinette’s house, then turned to Alya, “Hey, you should come with me, real quick.”

“Why?”

Nino was at a loss for words, “I, uh, um, safe, I mean, um- safety, safety first, I mean safety in numbers. Groups of two, you feel, bro? I don’t, uh, you know feel safe in this part of town.” He stared pointedly at Alya tipping his head in Adrien and Marinette’s direction.

Realization spread across her face, “Oh, yeah! Safety is super important, you are so right!”

“My house is right around the block, it’s not like we live somewhere dangerous,” said Marinette, confused.

Adrien stepped forward, “Yeah, Nino, it’s not that far, but if you really don’t feel safe, I can call the Gorilla down to give you a ride?”

“No, no, don’t trouble yourselves. Groups of two, right? Me and Alya and you and Marinette! You guys, just, uh... wait here.”

Marinette held off a dour look as she realized what was going on, but snuck a scowl at the two of them before they ran off without another word.

She and Adrien stood at the corner for nearly a full minute, watching them sprint down the road, as far away and as fast as they could. Marinette swore she saw Alya turn back and wink before they turned the corner and were gone. She risked a glance at Adrien, who looked more than a little confused.

Another minute passed. If she weren’t wracking her brain for an impressive and cutesy conversation starter, Marinette would have barfed from the awkwardness.

It seemed all hope was lost until Adrien spoke up, “Heh, I’m getting deja-vu.

“W-what?!” Marinette perked up.

Adrien brushed some hair off his face and leaned against the wall, “You’re always so quiet when we hang out.”

“Oh, that’s just, I uh...” Marinette faltered.

Adrien barely even noticed, “But that’s alright. You always end up bursting into conversation after a minute or two. Are you like that with everyone?”

Marinette gave her signature awkward grin, and a nervous laugh, “Yeah, um, totally. You know me, quiet on the outside, but lively within!”  
Adrien laughed.

“I’m kidding!” said Marinette, “I was just a little... confused by that whole thing, sorry. Ugh, now I’m getting deja-vu. You’re right, I feel like I’ve had this conversation before, to be honest.”

“It’s probably one of those weird coincidences,” offered Adrien, “Like when something happens and you swear you’ve seen it in a dream before and for a split second you think you’re a fortune teller or something,” he gave a soft chuckle, “like this has all happened before.”  
Her grin faded to a natural smile, “Yeah, but that stuff isn’t really real. It’s just your brain being weird.”  
“Superheroes and villains are, why not fortune tellers?”

Marinette smiled in amused disbelief, “Okay, sure, but I don’t think you can predict or magically change the future. You make it for yourself.”  
“Isn’t that kind of the same thing, though? You figure out your own future for yourself, so you’re kind of... changing it by what you do.” said Adrien, “With your actions.” he clarified.

Her head tilting, she asked, “So you think your choices change the future?”

He nodded. “Mhm, you just gotta figure out what you’re doing and-”

“-make up your mind?”

“Yeah.”

Marinette frowned into the distance, considering it for a moment, “That’s fair enough.”

Before he could reply, Nino and Alya had returned, slightly out of breath, like they’d just run around the block and back without stopping.

Actually, Marinette was fairly certain that was exactly what they had done.

“Okay, we’re all good, let’s head over to the park.” Nino panted between breaths.

“Alright,” Adrien said, “What was it you needed anyway?”

Nino shrugged ever so slightly, glancing to Alya at his side, “Just my dignity.”

Alya elbowed him hard in the gut, “He’s kidding, he just dropped his phone at the bakery.”

Adrien nodded. Behind him, Marinette glared at the two of them.

As he looked away, Alya snapped her some finger guns and a grin, “Come on,” she said, “Let’s get going.”


	2. Diving In Headfirst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A swimmer loses his race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourself for the first of many of the dumbest akuma villains you can imagine.  
> And also some mild Ladrien :)

Adrien knew three things to be consistently true in his life. The first, was that his father, Gabriel Agreste, was not a man to be counted on. The second, was that he loved his partner, Ladybug, with all his heart. Adrien knew he couldn’t do much about either of those things, so the most reliable of his truths was the third; Nino was and alway would be his best friend.

The two of them drifted through the school’s courtyard aimlessly, basking in the sunshine, dreading the unforgiving blare of the bell that would inevitably signal their return back to class. Nino fiddled with his new toy of the week, a blue yo-yo decorated with an eye on the sides, bouncing it up and down in hypnotic concentration.

“You’re really having fun with that, huh?” Adrien asked dryly.

Nino shrugged, “You can have fun with just about anything if you try. Besides, if  
Ladybug can make it look cool, then it must be.”

Adrien gave a knowing smile, “I’m sure it’s harder than she makes it look. Eh, at least a yo-yo is better than the bubbles.”

“You know,” Nino gave an empty laugh, “that would probably be a lot funnier if I actually... remembered that.” He adjusted his hat firmly on his head then snatched the yo-yo mid-air before it could make another bounce and eyed Alya and Marinette across the courtyard. “Hey, bro.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of Marinette? She’s cute, right?” Nino asked, “subtly.”

Adrien turned to see what he was looking at, “Ah, do you still have a crush on her?”

“No, actually, I-”

He wrapped an arm around Nino’s shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper, “Look, if you want help with another date I can do that for you. Maybe without the bluetooth this time, that was a disaster, but I’ve got your back, man.”

Nino shrugged him off, “No, it’s not that. I’ve...actually got my eyes on someone else now. I was just wondering what you thought of her?”

Brow raised, Adrien inquired, “Why?”

“I don’t know, man, I bet you two would look cute together though. You guys get along, right?”

Adrien frowned, “I mean... I guess? Marinette? She’s really cute and all, and don’t get me wrong, and she pretty amazing, you know, with the whole video game thing and being class president, it’s all kind of impressive. I mean, she’s kinda shy but also intimidating, but...”

Nino grinned, “You’re saying no, but it sounds a whole lot like yes, dude.”

“No, I just,” he fixed his gaze on Marinette for a moment and took a deep breath, “Like you said, I just have my eyes on someone else, is all.”

Nino leaned in closer, “Someone else, huh? You must have it pretty bad if you like them even more than you obviously like Marinette.”

Adrien lifted his arms in a shrug, “What can I say, man? Besides, Marinette could definitely do way better than me. Both of them could, actually.” He lamented, slumping into the bench.

“Hey, hey!” Nino glared, “What are you talking about, bro? You’re Adrien Agreste, the model? The son of the biggest fashion designer in all of France? Who is it you like? Because, let’s be real, they’d be super lucky to have you!”

“I don’t really think so,” Adrien shook his head, frowning, “It’s probably the opposite, I’m definitely the sort of guy who just brings on a whole lot of bad luck. She’d never want me around.”

Nino’s mouth tightened into thin line, “Bro, come on, who is it? You did me a solid, when you helped me with Marinette... even if that did end in a bit of a disaster, but you’ve got my support, man, let me help you out.” His eyes gleamed staid and earnest, “It’s the least I can do.”

Adrien groaned, flinging his neck over the back of the bench, “This girl would never like me! She looks right through me!”

“Who?”

He sat up straight and sighed, “Okay, look, just don’t judge me, it’s...”

Nino nodded, “Yeah? Yeah?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “Stop looking at me like that! Ugh, it’s...” he lowered his voice, “It’s Ladybug.”

Nino was taken aback, “What, really, bro? Why are you embarrassed by that, she’s awesome? But, have you met her before?!”

 

“Sh! Quiet!” Adrien bopped Nino’s hat off his head and put it on his own, “Look, I- I just don’t wanna talk about it, you know?” He said, fiddling with the brim of the cap and pulling it down over his reddening face before Nino snatched it back.

“You know you can trust me with anything, right?” Nino asked in reply, “It’s good to talk about stuff every once in a while.” He paused, the added, “And not just romance-y stuff, either, if you wanna, you know, talk about your dad?”

Adrien couldn’t help but cringe a bit, “Let’s talk about anything but that, alright? Why don’t you tell me who you like. Then maybe I’ll talk about her.” He turned his head up to the blue sky above, blushing faintly, “Maybe.”

“Well then, if you really wanna know,” Nino leaned in to whisper, “Alya.”

Adrien grinned, “You should ask her out, then!”

“In that case,” he responded, “You should ask out Ladybug!”

“What?! I can’t just--! That’s not how--! She doesn’t even--!”

Nino laughed, “Maybe you’re just a scaredy-cat, then?!”

“Well you’re half-right at least,” Adrien muttered under his breath, “But it’s not just that! I don’t even know who she really is, and it’s not like we ever...” He slowed and stopped himself.

“Ever what?” “Ever... talked, I guess?”

Nino gave him a pat on the back, “Bro, that’s an easy fix! All you gotta do is get her to save you!”

Adrien pursed his lips, “Yeah I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Oh please, it’ll be easy!” Nino exclaimed.

“No, I really don’t think that’s going to work.”

A questioning look spread across Nino’s face, “I’m not following, dude. Why wouldn’t it work?”

Adrien hesitated, working out a convincing enough lie, “I, um,” His eyes darted back and forth, “It’s just tasteless! I can’t play a damsel in distress, she’ll just think I’m weak!” He huffed, “And besides, she needs to focus on real danger, not me being a loser.”

 “ _Pfff_! You said it yourself, bro, she’s amazing! One extra person to save won’t be hard for her.” Nino clapped his hands together, “And she won’t think you’re a loser! She’ll wanna take care of you! You’ll be wrapped in her arms as she whisks you away from danger!” He hummed facetiously.

Before Adrien could come up with a retort, the bell rang and they headed back into the building. In front of them walked Alya and Marinette. Adrien couldn’t help but notice how her pigtails bounced with each step. It almost reminded him of Ladybug.

Almost.

Nino tapped his elbow and raised an eyebrow, but Adrien just shook his head.

Ladybug was the one for him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Don’t bother waiting for me, I have to grab something from my locker.” said Marinette, after the final school bell tolled.

“Alright then, hon, I’ll see you later,” Alya pulled Marinette into a hug and made her way out the door to the courtyard while Marinette finished packing. Once the room had emptied, Tikki hovered out of the bag and let out a light cough.

“Marinette,” her voice sang, “It’s just so cramped in there, do I have to stay in all day?”

Marinette walked out of the classroom and down the hall towards the locker room. “You know the rules, Tikki. I don’t want someone to find out I’m Ladybug,” she explained, “Or even worse, for you to get lost or kidnapped!”

“I know I’m small, Marinette, but I can handle myself just fine, you know!” She spun idly as Marinette speed-walked through the hall.

Marinette poked her tiny little nose, “I know that, but I just want to keep you safe! It’s for the best.”

Tikki sighed. Beside her, Marinette ducked into the locker room to retrieve her other textbooks. She piled them into her backpack one by one and shut the locker door, turning to Tikki, “Let’s get going. I just wanna go home and nap.”

They headed back out the door and through the main hall, into the courtyard. Out in the open, the temperature had dropped and heavy grey clouds had drifted over the shining sun. Marinette shifted in the chilly weather, “I think it’s about to rain. We better hurry.” She picked up the pace. They had almost reached the bakery when Marinette was stopped by a familiar voice.

“Marinette!”

She turned around to see Alya, across the street, but she wasn’t speaking to her, but to Nino. They were hunched over slightly, like they were almost whispering, both with hard frowns on their faces. Neither of them seemed to notice Marinette standing just feet away.

Tikki looked up at Marinette, “Are they talking about you?”

Marinette shrugged, “I should, uh, probably go home...”

Tikki floated up to her eye level while the sun darkened behind heavier clouds.

“ _Orrrr_... I could just go say a quick hi to my friends.” She ducked behind the light cement wall of the building next to her, “From over here where I can hear them but they can’t see me.”

Tikki crossed her itty-bitty arms in judgement. “Don’t eavesdrop, just go talk to them, they’re your friends!”

Marinette batted her away softly, “Sh, I can’t hear!” She peered from behind the wall.

She could just barely catch what Alya was saying as they made their way down the road, “-did he say when you asked him?”

Nino mumbled something incoherent, slowly speaking up as he talked, “-but he said he likes Ladybug.”

Marinette perked up, eyes narrowing.

Alya looked startled, “Ladybug?!”

 Nino nodded, almost solemnly, “But he said that Marinette-” Marinette strained her ears to hear what they were saying, “-and he’s just in love with Ladybug.”

Marinette couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “This whole time, he’s liked me?!”

Tikki raised a brow, “He likes Ladybug! Weren’t you listening?”

“Yeah, but _I’m_ Ladybug!” Marinette squealed. “This is perfect!”

“But he doesn’t know that!” Tikki stressed.

“So? Same thing, right?”

Tikki frowned, “Well... yes, but I think you should just go talk to them so you know for sure what they’re talking about.”

Marinette nodded and stood up.

“But I don’t think we should tell Marinette.” she heard Alya say.

That stopped her. She ducked back down again. Tikki groaned, “Come on!”

“Sh!” Marinette leaned forward.

Nino was nodding in agreement as Alya continued, “She’s really into him. It’ll break her heart to find out that he doesn’t-- that he just likes Ladybug.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. It’s not that he doesn’t like--” more muffled words, “--he’s just really in love with Ladybug.” Nino replied as they strolled out of earshot.

Tikki tugged at Marinette’s collar, “Marinette, you shouldn’t be spying like this!”

Marinette wasn’t listening. She pouted and turned around to slump against the wall, “Ugh! He doesn’t like me he just wants Ladybug! I have to make him like me and notice me for me! I bet he doesn’t even see me!” She slapped her palm to her face, “I’m so stupid!”

Marinette pulled Tikki off her shoulder gently and cradled her in her palms, “Marinette,” She said, “Don’t be silly. You’re amazing! He just needs to see that and he’ll come around.”

“Well apparently he has- he just doesn’t know it’s me!” Marinette groaned, pulling herself off the ground. “What am I supposed to do, now?! He doesn’t like me that way, and if he finds out Ladybug is me, then he won’t even like her- me- anymore. Ugh, this is so confusing!”

“How about we go home and relax? It looks like it’s about to rain.” Tikki suggested, just as a flash of lightning thundered across the sky. Tikki shuddered at the noise and ducked back into Marinette’s bag as rain began to fall. “Let’s go!”

Marinettte nodded, making for the bakery, “This is just great! Now I’m going to catch a cold, too!”

Tikki opened her mouth to reply when screams of terror sounded down the street. Marinette whipped around to see the rain just a few meters ahead of her suspended in mid air in the shape of a dome.

Down the road, a dark, tanned twenty-something in a speedo and swim cap floated on a hovering puddle of water above the dome, cackling maniacally at the civilians below, trapped underneath the watery prison. Gills pulsed on his neck and between his fingers was a thin layer of webbing above which shimmering teal scales extended up his hands and wrists. The setting sun gleamed and glinted off of them. He waved his arms in triumph, beaming through his neon green goggles, then sank through the water and into the dome. Inside the dome, he gestured as though he were swimming and a hole opened in the top, letting in the rain. “I am Treadnought! You all thought I was a loser, but I am the best swimmer in the world!” He clenched his fists, his face contorted in concentration, “I’ll prove I am the greatest! I’ll eliminate all the competition! Let’s see how well you all swim, now!” He thrust his arms forward in a grand breaststroke.

Marinette gasped as the rain immediately stopped. She threw her head back to look at the clouds above her and stood, slack-jawed as all the pouring rain was whisked straight through the hole in the dome and began to fill it up rapidly; Treadnought floating above the water level as it rose.

She made for cover behind another building and ripped open her bag, “Tikki we have to do something! Transform me!”

Tikki nodded affirmatively, diving into Marinette’s earrings. Around her, red sparkled and whipped through in a spiral, transforming her day-clothes into spotted spandex. Her mask formed gently over her eyes, she felt her yo-yo appear at her hip, and a surge of confidence struck through her entire body. Adrenaline coursing, she leaped out from her hiding place and shot down the road.

“Treadnought! I think it’s time someone beat you off your block!” Marinette tossed the yo-yo and sent it flying through the air towards Treadnought’s head. It slowed once it hit the water, moving through it as though it were molasses, and Treadnought laughed.

“You think that can stop me? I’m only testing the waters, I think I better dive in!” He swam forward, out of the dome, encased in a bubble of water as he left it, his fins poking right out of it, and surged towards her, the water dome trailing behind him in a tidal wave and leaving the poor citizens once trapped in it to breathe. “Ladybug, I think you’re in a little over your head!”

Marinette snapped her yo-yo back and braced herself for impact. Gallons of water flew into her face and encased her head. Air escaped her lungs and she watched as it bubbled up through the water around her. She held in her last breath and tossed the yo-yo again, straight towards Treadnought. This time around, it made contact, but only enough to break his concentration. The water around her head splashed to the ground and Marinette gasped for breath. “I think this is going swimmingly!” She smirked, leaped backwards, and hopped up the side of a building before he could strike with an extension of the wave. The water slammed into the ground where she had just been standing, soaking everything around it.

_Chat, where are you?_ Marinette wondered to herself. He normally didn’t take this long to turn up. She hoped she could hold off Treadnought in time for him to get there.

Hanging from the top of the building, she could see the road more clearly. Many of the civilians were still in the vicinity, rushing around frantically.

“Everyone needs to get away from here!” Marinette called over the yelling, “It’s not safe here!”

“Aw, don’t swim away, guys!” Treadnought cried, sending out the tidal wave towards the center square with a whoosh of his arms. It only grew larger as the downpour continued funneling into it. The people below shrieked in fear.

Marinette hollered to the crowds a second time, “You all have to get to high ground!”

Treadnought lifted his arms and the wave released itself, crashing down through the roads and between street buildings, sweeping away civilians, cars, trashcans, and the like. The pitter patter of the rain was impossible to hear over the deafening roar of the watery barrage below. It rumbled even louder than the thunder above them.

Marinette took a deep breath and dove headfirst into the flood, slicing through the current and grabbing people left and right as they bobbed by. She surfaced and heaved each person as hard as she could to the roofs above the water. He’s going to flood the city, she thought with a panic, desperately wishing for Chat’s help in that moment.

She spotted the last civilian under the tide. It was Adrien. He struggled out from behind a shop, flailing underneath the water. Marinette watched as heaved upwards, but was pulled back down by the undercurrent. She cut back through the deluge, fixing her focus on his blonde hair rippling back and forth in the flow.

He squinted hard through the water, spotting Ladybug heading towards him, and desperately reached for her hand, but the strong current rumbled in the opposite direction, hurling her backwards and slamming her into a wall.

Pinned to the flooded building by the torrential flux of water, she forced her eyes open and examined the stream again. Adrien was desperately holding on a pole with one hand and struggling with his bag in the other. Losing his grip on the bag, it went flying through the water.

Before Marinette could lose the last of her breath, she flung her yo-yo with all the force she could muster and pulled it tight as it wrapped itself around the lamppost Adrien was clinging to. She surged forward and grabbed him, hugging him tight to her chest just as the waters began to recede, flowing out into the streets through Paris.

Her arms wrapped around him, she kicked up through the shallows and broke the surface. They gasped for air and wordlessly swam for the second-story window of a nearby building, hands clasped together to keep the other afloat.

Above the streets of France’s greatest city, thousands of citizens collected on the roofs of their homes and workplaces, crying out for friends and family across the way.

Treadnought descended on a puddle to meet Ladybug’s eye. She pulled herself up into the window frame and leaned down to help Adrien into the room. Before he could thank her for saving him, she whipped around to address Treadnought, “Why don’t you pick on fish your own size?!”

“I have to take down all the competition, Ladybug! And that means you, too! No one will stand in my way!” He lashed forward, water lapping behind him. Marinette fell back, tugging on Adrien’s elbow and pushing him out of the way. He looked around, frantically searching for any sign of Plagg, who had been whisked away in his bag.

Distracted by his lady’s fight, he lost himself in the moment, entranced by Ladybug as she kicked and flipped and landed her precise attacks on Treadnought, dodging each wave he sent her way, as well as shielding Adrien in the process. Despite the chaos, he couldn’t help but smile. Watching her fight filled him with admiration and only strengthened his feelings for her. These thoughts were stopped abruptly, of course, and he came back to his senses to find Plagg. In the back of Adrien’s mind, he felt a pang of disappointment at how obviously well she could hold her own without him as Chat Noir by her side. He couldn’t tell if it made him jealous or if it made him love her more for her strength. The answer was probably a little of both.

“You think that’s all I can take?!” cried Treadnought in the most domineering tone he could manage, trying to hide how out of breath he had grown. “All I’ve got to do is pool all my strength together and I’ll defeat you easily!”

Marinette let out an exasperated laugh, “I think it’s break time at the pool, and you know what that means!”

Treadnought paused and tilted his head, eyes narrowed in confusion from behind his goggles.

“No swimming allowed!” Marinette threw her yo-yo into the air and called for her lucky charm power. A pool line divider strung up with floats materialized above her and fell neatly into her hands. Marinette sneered at the rope, “What’s this for?!” She demanded.  
Time slowed down around her like a cliche black and white film noir. She squinted at Treadnought standing before her and out the window behind him where the waters had receded and a lamp post sat right beside the window sill. With a smug smile, she raised her chin confidently and hopped forward, dodging another water attack and circling back around Treadnought, rope in hand, restraining his arms and tightening the rope with each loop around him. Before he could send more water hurtling towards her, she jumped out the window, flipped around the the top of the lamppost, the divider wrapped around Treadnought hauling him forward and out the window, and leaving him dangling from the post.

Marinette landed gracefully on the sill in a crouching position and looked Treadnought right in his bewildered eyes. “I’ll be taking these!” She reached for his goggles and snapped them right off his speechless face, the rubber tearing and releasing the akuma stuck inside.

Marinette once again grabbed her trusty yo-yo and bounced it forward, “You can’t do any more harm, little akuma. I release you from evil!” She cried, trapping the akuma with it as though it were a butterfly net. It purified the akuma and with the press of a button, the yo-yo opened its wing-like flaps and released it back into the air. As it fluttered away, Marinette raised her hand in a dainty wave and smiled, “Bye bye, little butterfly!” she sang.

With only one last thing to do, Marinette launched the rest of the dividers into the air and with a whoosh of red, the remainder of the flood disappeared, the families on the roofs were returned to their homes, Adrien’s bag reappeared at his side, and Treadnought was set free from his akumatized form. He found himself kneeling on the floor of the building dazed and confused in nothing but his swimsuit. Marinette was pretty sure she recognized him as one of the swimmers from the rec center’s competitive swim team.

Outside the building, the patter of rain on the concrete resumed, released from Treadnought’s control.

“W-what’s going on?” he asked as Ladybug leaned down and offered him a hand.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now!”

He stumbled to his feet. Marinette instinctually turned, hand balled into a fist to bump Chat Noir’s, but of course, he wasn’t there. She ripped her hand down as if nothing had happened.

Adrien noticed, though. He hid a smile and stood up from the corner, filled with a horrible, wonderful mish-mash of comfort, stability, and unrelenting nausea; the usual feelings he got whenever he was around Ladybug. _She’s so close and she doesn’t even know it’s me,_ he thought to himself in wonder. He had no idea what to say, or if he should even say anything, but before he could give it a second thought, Ladybug had made her way to his side of the room, a confident smile spreading on her face.

Marinette cringed. _Stop smiling!_ she thought, _He’ll think you’re a freaking weirdo!_ She shook her head, _Wait, no, he likes this version of you-- me-- keep smiling...or just...look normal? Oh god, he’s looking right at me!_ She stopped in from of him and placed a hand on her hip, “And are you alright?” she asked.

Adrien stared for a moment before jumping to his sense, “Y-yeah.” He stuttered

Now what? Marinette asked herself. “You’re Adrien Agreste, right? The model?”

Startled, Adrien glanced down to hide his blush, stammering, “Y-yeah, you know who I am?”

“Of course I do! You’re all over every fashion magazine in Paris!” On her ears, Marinette’s miraculous blinked it’s last spot. “Oh, shoot, I have to go! It was nice meeting you,” and without even thinking, Marinette winked and jumped out the window. The only thought on her mind: _Holy crap, why did I do that?!_

Adrien watched longingly as she swung from building to building with effortless grace, then perked up, remembering Plagg. He snapped open the flap on his bag and out flew Plagg, coughing and spitting. “Don’t you ever let that happen again! You know I can’t swim and I hate water!”

Nose crinkling, Adrien smiled, “Glad you’re okay, at least.”

“You’re glad? I’m glad! You’re lucky Ladybug was able to save the day without you.”

His smile dropped, “I think I’m unlucky that I lost you in the first place. He flooded the center before I could transform.”

“Are you mad, though? I saw that wink Ladybug gave you. Ugh, I can’t believe you like her more than cheese! Speaking of which-” He held his nubby paws out, “Cough it up.”

Adrien reached into his bag for some camembert, handing a chunk to his kwami, “There you go.” Outside, the clouds had passed and the sun was setting into an bleeding orange sky. “We better get going.” He said. “Where are we, anyway?”

Plagg twitched his nose, “Looks like one of the Grand Paris hotel rooms.”

“Right, then. Can’t climb out the window, that would just be weird in civilian clothes.” He opened the door and peered out the hall. It was empty. “Alright then, that makes things easy.” He shrugged, strolling down the hall and whistling on his way with a grin on his face. “I think that went well despite everything.” He said to Plagg.

Plagg sneered, “Literally everything that could have gone wrong went wrong!”

“Yeah, but Ladybug winked at me!” Adrien mused, “She knows who I am! Nino was right, I should have done this a long time ago!”

Plagg crossed his tiny arms, “Then what’re you planning to do? Never transform ever again? Just let her save you and do all the work herself?”

“No! No!” Adrien pouted, “But now that she knows who I am, I have a chance with her!”

“Make up your mind, Adrien. You told Nino the saving thing was a stupid idea and then it happened anyway and now you’re glad?!” Plagg munched on the cheese, “If I cared enough I’d ask you if you ever planned on telling her the truth.”

“I just... I don’t know. Just let me have this moment, okay? Just for now.”

Plagg rolled his eyes, “If that’s what you want, man.”

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette’s de-transformation whirled around her just as she landed on her roof. Tikki popped up beside her, “Marinette, that was great!”

Marinette wasn’t really paying much attention to her though, “I can’t believe I did that. I can’t believe I did that! Oh my god!” She slapped her hands to her face, mouth open in embarrassed shock, “I can’t believe I winked at him!”

Tikki giggled. “It was cute! He looked really flustered! But you should probably just talk to him as Marinette, not Ladybug.”

Marinette blinked, “He was...‘flustered?’” She snickered, “He was embarrassed to be around me?”

Tikki nodded silently in reassurance.

Marinette’s hands flew from her cheeks to clasp over her mouth, “Oh my goodness! That’s perfect!”

“Well, you already knew he liked Ladybug.”

“Yeah, but I…I never thought about it, but, I don’t have to get him to like me, I just have to keep being Ladybug!”

Tikki raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean, Marinette?”

“I mean,” she explained, “That I just have to find ways to meet him when I’m Ladybug. He already likes me so I just need to let him know I like him back and then everything will be awesome and perfect!” She squealed.

Tikki frowned, “But Marinette, you can’t do that. You can’t abuse your powers like that or lie to Adrien.”

“It’s not _lying_ ,” Marinette scowled, “It’s just… not being totally honest. But for the sake of everyone’s happiness!”

“Or just yours,” Tikki retorted in a murmur.

Marinette scoffed, “Excuse me! He likes Ladybug, and I’m Ladybug, and I like him! See? It’s not just for myself!” She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, “It will work!”

Tikki groaned, “Just earlier, you were upset that he liked Ladybug, and not you as Marinette, and now you’re saying you don’t care? You just want to withhold the truth so you can get the guy? Marinette, you have to make up your mind! This really doesn’t  
seem like the right thing to do!”

Marinette stomped down her step ladder and into her room, “That’s because it’s the _perfect_ thing to do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> His villain name was originally "Freestyler," so it definitely could have been worse.  
> His actual name is Finn Riviere though.


	3. Just Checking Inn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bellhop decides she's had enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought Treadnaught was a silly idea for a villain, just you wait.

In hot pursuit of an akumatized bellhop, Marinette swung her way through the Paris streets, too focused to enjoy the cool night air on her skin. Down below, the Inn-Spectre hovered in her ghostly form above a luggage cart wheeling rapidly down the sidewalk.

Marinette huffed to herself, “This is the second time Chat Noir is nowhere to be found! Where is he?”

Her chase ended abruptly as the Inn-Spectre rounded a corner and vanished from sight like the ghost she was. “Ugh!” She stopped on a roof to examine the area. “Where could she have gone off to?” Frowning, she hopped down to the streets, landing in a crouch.

The bell of a boutique door rang as the one and only Adrien Agreste walked out of the store.

His heart skipped a beat as their eyes met. Marinette’s stopped altogether. At least it felt that way.

Adrien felt himself at a loss for words, his eyes beaming, if somewhat anxious. His stomach flip-flopped.

Jumping to her feet, Marinette collected herself, and cleared her throat. “Adrien! Nice to see you again!”

Adrien drew a deep breath. _This is what he wanted, right? Come on, you sat for a full hour in that shop waiting for your chance instead of just transforming._ He thought, _Don’t back out now._ “You, too,” he waved. “Are you, uh--” He balled his hands into fists and pretended to punch an imaginary opponent in front of him. “-you know?”

Marinette nodded, unsure of what to do. This was it! What were the chances she’d be so lucky so as to run into him a second time. It was destiny- fate, even!

It was Adrien. His eyes fell to the ground. He felt guilty for waiting instead of just transforming and rushing in to help her, but he knew he had to do this. She might not ever love him as Chat Noir, but maybe she could love him as Adrien. His voice betrayed him, though, “You probably have to get going then?” he held in the urge to kick himself in the face. Why did he say that?!

Marinette bit her lip, “Yeah.” Her eyes darted to the side, “The Inn-Spectre is off wreaking havoc and it’s my job to stop her!” Despite the excitement in her voice, she couldn’t help but sound the slightest bit glum as she said it. “But it’s nice seeing you! Good luck with your, uh, modeling, I guess?!” She squatted to jump.

“Wait!” Adrien stopped her, “I- I uh, I could help you! Find her, I mean?”

Marinette raised a brow, “Oh, that’s, uh… a sweet offer, but I really can’t put you in danger like that. Besides, I have my partner, Chat.” She lowered her voice to mutter, “Or I usually do, at least.”

Adrien swallowed, “It doesn’t look like he’s around?” I don’t mind helping, if you, uh, need it?”

Marinette sighed, "I'm sure he'll show up soon."

Adrien looked unconvinced.

She so desperately wanted to accept his offer. The chance to hang out with Adrien? Alone? Or, well, sort-of-alone, given the villain she was chasing. But regardless, time spent with Adrien was time well spent, she figured, and she had already decided for herself to pursue him as Ladybug. She couldn’t just give up now.

Marinette raced through her choices in her mind. She could risk Adrien’s safety to hang out with him, or bail on her plan, and leave him behind, but safe. She bit her lip, why couldn’t she just have both?! _I can keep him safe_ , thought Marinette, _As long as we don’t get into too much trouble, I guess._ She twitched her head up, hands on her hips, “Alright, then, but you’ll have to stay out of the way when I’m fighting.”

Adrien nodded affirmatively, restraining himself from grinning like a maniac, “Gotcha.”

“In that case, we better get going, we can’t let the Inn-Spectre get too far.” She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and he wrapped his own around her waist, “Hold on tight!” She warned, throwing the yo-yo and swinging them up to a roof above. With only one hand free, Marinette landed with a thud and the two of them went tumbling to the ground, tangling themselves in the yo-yo’s string. When they finally stopped rolling, Marinette froze. She found herself right on top of Adrien, who stared back at her with equally-as-shocked eyes. She hoped her blush didn’t match the piercing red of her suit and struggled with the string tying them together.

Adrien couldn’t even think. There was only one thing on his mind and that was his proximity to Ladybug. The feeling of their legs entwined together by the string, and the touch of her chest pressed into his own brought the brightest shade of red flushing through his face. He wasn’t sure if the yo-yo was strangling him or he was just so close to Ladybug that his mind had shut down completely and blocked the air from his lungs. He found his arm was still twisted around her waist, and he definitely noticed hers wrapped around his neck.

Marinette smiled her signature nervous smile, “Ehehe, whoops.” She grunted, unsuccessfully trying to pull herself to her knees. “Uh, if you could just, uh, move your leg--”

A flustered Adrien shifted his left leg from around her waist, stopping as she yelped, “Wait, no, the other one!” His other leg was wedged tight between Ladybug’s, and one of her own was wrapped around his side, clinging to it thanks to the knotted yo-yo string wrapped tightest around their legs.

“I’m not sure this is working,” he muttered, pulling one arm free. Up close like this, her blue eyes sparkled like the stars on a clear night. Only bluer and more eye-shaped than star shaped. Despite his attempts, he wasn't exactly much of a poet.

He tore his eyes away and risked a quick glance at her lips, pursed in concentration. That was a mistake. His blush darkened, reaching a shade that rivaled that of a cardinal, if it was even possible for him to blush more than he already had. He turned his head to avoid her gaze.

Marinette cringed, wracking her brain for a solution to this disaster. This was a terrible idea! Literally, only seconds in, and it had turned into an embarrassing mess! She was beginning to wonder if she was really as lucky as her powers made her think she was. “Okay, so, just, uh, stop moving, we’re only making it worse. Here, let me just get my arm- aha!” She eased her arm out from around Adrien’s neck and started tugging at the string around their bodies.

Though unseen from their unfortunate position, the pair could not possibly miss the ear-splitting cacophony of an explosion down the block by the Grand Paris Hotel.

  
They both shuddered at the sound, “Ugh!” cried Marinette, “That’ll be the Inn-Spectre. Just use your free arm to loosen the string, we have to hurry!”

With some heavy jostling, they shook free of the confines and leaped into action. Marinette immediately grabbed Adrien by the waist, her fingers resting above his hips. She whispered, “I’m sorry about this,” and heaved him over to the next roof, hopping after him.

Adrien landed in a crouch, “You really don’t have to do that.” He told her as she landed beside him, “I can make the jump.”

Marinette shook her head, “I can’t let you risk that. You’ll just get hurt.”

Adrien frowned, “I’m pretty sure I can make it.” He countered.

Marinette huffed and spun around, “Look, I know I make it look really easy, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. It’s a good ten foot jump, at least, believe me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, “I believe you, really, but I’m pretty sure I can make it.”

“I can’t have you falling to your death just because you want to look cool!”

Grinding his teeth, Adrien stomped the ground and sprinted for the opposite edge of the building.

Marinette’s hand flew up as she rushed to stop him, “Adrien, no, you’ll-!”

He jumped, hiding the tiniest smirk as he sailed through the air and landed on the chipped red shingles of the roof on the next building.

Marinette’s breath caught, she buckled forward in relief as he perked up on the other side and waved his arms. She followed, touching down beside him and slapped her hand over her heart, “You scared me to death!”

Adrien crossed his arms again, standing tall, a cheeky grin lighting up his face, “I told you, I can make it.”

Laughing just the slightest, Marinette replied, “Okay, I believe you now. Just… don’t do that again.”

“Jump?”

“Scare me like that.”

Taken aback, Adrien tipped his head to the side, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I mean I wasn’t trying to-“

Marinette’s hands flew up, “No, no, don’t be sorry, I just don’t want you to get hurt or anything!”

His eyes lowered, “Right, of course. I’m sorr-- I mean, um--”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marinette winked and leaped to the next roof, giggling quietly to herself.

Adrien felt strange, but pushed it to the back of his mind and followed after her without hesitation.

They reached the top of the Grand Paris, panting, as the Inn-Spectre’s intangible form rose through the concrete roof to meet them.

“Ladybug!” She hissed. “Finally come to face me?! I’ve already gotten what I want! All the guests are gone! I chased them out. This stupid hotel is ruined! I never have to work for those vile tourists again! And do you know what that means, Ladybug?!”

“I think it means you’re a poor employee!” Marinette’s yo-yo soared through the air, but passed right through the Inn-Spectre’s ghostly body.

The Inn-Spectre groaned, “Ugh! You’re just as irritating as all the hotel guests! No! It _means_ it’s time for me to take you out! _Suite dreams_ , Ladybug!”

Marinette and Adrien had little time to appreciate the pun as all around them suitcases and luggage materialized out of nowhere. The Inn-Spectre grinned underneath her floating white veil. Up close, Marinette could see her Grand Paris bellhop uniform and hat, tinted white and translucent like her body. With a sick grin, she raised a hand into the air like a conductor with a baton and the bags opened to reveal hundreds of weapons and projectiles, and what Marinette assumed was a laundry bag. “I’m going to send you and this dumb hotel where you belong!”

A stained t-shirt thwacked Marinette square in the face. Definitely a laundry bag.

  
She ripped the shirt off her face and gestured for Adrien to stay back, “Don’t get in the way, okay?!”

Adrien frowned, but nodded, darting to the edge of the roof. _How am supposed to help her like this?_ He wondered. From his pocket, Plagg peeked his head out, sensing Adrien’s uncertainty.

“You could still run off and transform,” he whispered.

Adrien hushed him with a glare and turned his attention back to Ladybug, who dodged the attacks with grace as laundry went flying this way and that.

He stepped out of the path of some flying underwear and ducked behind a potted plant. While Ladybug focused on the laundry, the Inn-Spectre had made her way above the covered pool, and was stacking the explosives in a neat little pile on the glass. He grimaced, shoulders slumping.

Plagg poked out again, waiting impatiently.

Adrien groaned, “I’m completely useless without my powers. Why did I do this?!”

Across the pool. Marinette was still deflecting the onslaught. Her yo-yo circled fast in a near-imperceivable shield. The laundry bag had run out and she now found herself ducking out of the way of a brutal rain of complimentary shampoo bottles. “This is ridiculous!” She rolled her eyes, sparing a glance to the side to check on Adrien. She was shocked to find no one behind her. Stumbling out of the way of a barrage of pillow mints, she whipped around, searching for Adrien. “Adrien!” She whisper-yelled, doing her best not to alert the Inn-Spectre to his presence. _This was a mistake!_ She screamed internally, _This was a huge mistake and now he’s in danger!_

Adrien watched intently as the Inn-Spectre placed the final bomb on the pile. “If I could just break the glass it would soak all the explosives and they’d be useless.” He murmured, mostly to himself, though it didn’t stop Plagg from floating back out a third time to reply.

“If you transform you can just use Cataclysm!”

Adrien shook his head, “No, she’s too close, she’ll see me! This will have all been for nothing.”

“Everything is going to be for nothing if we die up here,” Plagg deadpanned. “But hey, it’s you call.”

Adrien gave him a dirty look. On the other side of the hotel’s wide roof, Ladybug was still caught up dodging attacks. Clenching his fists, he turned, looking for anything strong enough to break the glass above the pool. The lounge chairs were too flimsy, and the potted plant more likely to break on impact than the glass itself. He sighed, even his bad luck powers had more use than him.

As Marinette smacked a bar of soap out of the way, she finally spotted Adrien hiding behind the pool shed. His dejected gaze caught hers and he looked away, to the Inn-Spectre above the pool. Seeing the pile of bombs, Marinette wished more than anything for Chat Noir to show up and just destroy the glass cover they rested on. It was over an inch thick, she knew her yo-yo wouldn’t even make a dent in it.

The Inn-Spectre fiddled with the wires of the last explosive, trying to rig it.

Frantic, Adrien looked around once more. At the front of the shed he saw the solution; a control panel. Eyes widening, he took a deep breath and somersaulted from out behind the shed, right in clear view of the Inn-Spectre. She jumped back in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. Before she could address him, he tore open the metal panel, hit the first button he saw and with a triumphant sigh of relief, watched, grinning, as the glass cover separated and shifted into the side of the pool, sending the massive piles of explosives into the water with a splash.

The Inn-Spectre, however, did not look so pleased. She screeched, lunging at Adrien, color flushing back through her body, “Why, you-!”

Marinette flew over the pool, and before the Inn-Spectre could land an attack on him, she threw herself between them, yo-yo spiraling before her, and knocked him out of the way. The Inn-Spectre’s now corporeal body made contact, tossing Marinette into the wall. “Finally making a solid attack huh?” She retaliated, bouncing the yo-yo off the Inn-Spectre’s head.

She rubbed where it had hit, the color draining from her face as she assumed her ghostly form again.

Marinette offered her hand to Adrien. He grabbed it and jumped back to his feet. Their eyes met. She gave him a reassuring smile and lowered her voice, “She can only physically attack us by making herself tangible again. Once she’s exhausted all the other weapons, she’ll have nothing to throw at us and she’ll have to make herself solid.”

Adrien nodded, “And then we can take her down.”

She squeezed his hand and let go. Adrien leaped to the left of the Inn-Spectre, while Marinette made for the right. Like choreographed dancers, they snatched the suitcases from the roof and in perfect unison, cast them over the edge and into the air. They landed to the empty sidewalk below with a dull thud. Marinette counted four more suitcases, then glanced at Adrien across the roof. He nodded, then made for the closest case, while Marinette ran for the one nearest to her.

By the pool, the Inn-Spectre caught on to their plan and with her telekinetic powers, opened up the third suitcase and summoned from it a laptop, pillow, various changes of clothes, and some other luggage. Marinette groaned, “Oh come on!”

The gear went flying. Marinette flipped past the laptop, cringing at the sound of its crunch against the concrete ground. She leaped, slid over a lounge chair, and bounded for the fourth suitcase. Dodging the last of the clothes, she pitched the baggage over the edge of the roof and smirked.

Her pride was short-lived. The Inn-Spectre quickly switched her focus to Adrien and targeted her attacks towards him. To Marinette’s surprise, his lithe body avoided the worst of the projectiles, and he deflected the rest with ease. He somersaulted through another set of attacks and landed beside the final suitcase. As the Inn-Spectre’s attacks thinned, she opened the last case and out blasted a blitzkrieg of luggage, right into Adrien’s face, throwing him against the wall.

Marinette called out to him and ran to his side. He picked himself off the ground, wincing in pain, but gave her a thumbs-up. The two of them turned to face the Inn-Spectre while around them, the last of her weapons whirled and spun in a flurry.

“You’re just a little too _inn-experienced_ , Ladybug! You think you could stop me that easily?!”

Marinette narrowed her eyes, combing her brain for a plan and searching the Inn-Spectre. Her pale form was difficult to make out, but Marinette could just barely see her uniformed body swathed in pale, torn sheets like a piece of old furniture in an attic.

Marinette squinted, and before the Inn-Spectre could move and land another attack, she spotted her nametag as it glinted softly in the light.

“Adrien! Her nametag! We have to break it to stop her, okay?”

He looked to see what she was pointing to and nodded in affirmation, stepping out of the way as a wave of weapons swung down between them.

While Adrien shot forward, Marinette summoned her lucky charm power, crying out and tossing her yo-yo into the air.

Adrien scurried back and forth, dodging each attack and letting the Inn-Spectre’s projectiles sail off the roof until the foray finally ran out. The Inn-Spectre’s face clouded with fury, her mouth open and teeth bared like a predator on the defensive. She swung her arm up and the pool chairs skyrocketed towards him. He dropped to the ground, barely missing them, then rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding a large clay pot half his size as it smashed into the concrete, its pieces scattering across the ground. The Inn-Spectre screeched, “Why won’t you two just die already?!”

The last potted plant reared past and went over the roof. Adrien rolled to his side and caught Ladybug’s eye, staring pointedly.

Marinette looked down to the pole that had fallen into her hands. It reminded her of Chat Noir’s baton, and could extend on either side. Her eyes flashed up, scanning the roof until she met Adrien’s eyes. He nodded and the two of them ran towards each other and the Inn-Spectre between them.

She dodged out of the way, her head whipping back and forth as she searched for anything she could throw their way. Finding nothing, she groaned, and assumed her tangible form.

Marinette smirked. As the Inn-Spectre rushed forth, lunging at the two of them, Marinette flung out the staff, the other side extended far enough for Adrien to grab it and the pair carried forth like kids playing a game of red rover. Each holding one end of it, they pulled the pole underneath the Inn-Spectre’s solid feet and sent her flying.

She somersaulted to the ground and jumped back up into action. “You think that will stop me?” She cried, charging forward.

Marinette tilted her head in the direction of the elevator and nudged Adrien. “I think it’s time to lift your spirits!” She let go of the pole, leaving it to Adrien, who secretly thanked her for her good luck in lieu of his own bad luck. His fingers tightened around it, savoring the comfort of a familiar weapon in hand. Fate must have had him in mind.

He ran forward, on the attack while Marinette let the yo-yo fly. Their attacks forced the Inn-Spectre backwards, towards the elevator. While Marinette tossed the yo-yo, hitting the button and opening the door, Adrien continued their attack. He extended the far end of the pole to Marinette, who placed the yo-yo back at her side and snatched the other end of the staff.

“Well,” said Marinette, “Now that I think about it, this is the roof, I can’t really lift your spirits any higher, so I guess I’ll just have to take you down, instead!” With a swift kick, she sent the Inn-Spectre straight into the elevator. The two of them rammed forth, pushing her against the wall with the staff, then extending either end until it was wedged between the walls of the elevator, trapping the Inn-Spectre once and for all.

She snarled, struggling against her restraints. Marinette plucked the nametag from her chest before she could go incorporeal again and escape, and snapped the thing in two, not even hiding her proud smile as she glanced to Adrien, a gleam in her eyes.

He grinned. His heart still racing, body still coursing with adrenaline, and heart soaring as her sparkling eyes met his.

Marinette could say the same thing, but it wasn’t time for her to dawdle, her job wasn’t done yet. She threw her yo-yo at the akuma as it emerged from the broken name-tag, catching it and purifying with one swing. Releasing it back out, she set the Inn-Spectre free and thrust the staff into the air.

As her powers swirled around them, the pool furniture was returned to its place on the roof, the flower pots intact again, the explosives disappeared from the bottom of the pool, and the Inn-Spectre was released from her akumatized form. She fell to the ground, her wispy blonde hair trailing behind her.

“W-what’s going on?” asked the girl. “Why am I up here? I- I thought I was…?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Marinette, offering a red spandex-clad hand. “It’s late, you should, uh, try and get home.”

The girl nodded, still confused, but left without a word, not really sure of what else there was to do.

Marinette sighed, stepping out of the elevator, and turned to Adrien. “You’re not too bad at that stuff, huh?”

“I’ve had practice,” he risked a wink.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. She figured he was talking about sword fighting practice, but she knew she couldn’t mention that she already knew about that. “Well, you were impressive. If I didn’t already have a partner, we’d make a great team.” She raised her hand in a fist, “Pound it?”

Adrien blinked, surprised, as he looked down at her hand. This was their thing, right? Except, he wasn’t Chat Noir now. And she had no idea. Before he could refuse, the dreamy smile on her face pushed the thought far out of his mind. With a playful grin, he bumped her fist, hoping she wouldn’t recognize the familiar touch of his knuckles.

Marinette’s breath slowed as he reciprocated. Before she could do anything stupid, she snatched her hand back, running her fingers over where he had grazed his own. She felt the awkward settle in when her earrings blinked in warning. She gasped, “Oh, I’m sorry, I have to go!” She looked around, “Wait, I can’t just leave you here again, uh…”

“It’s not a big deal or anything--”

“No, no, don’t worry.” She looked at her yo-yo and closed her eyes, sighing. “Hopefully this’ll work out this time.” She wrapped her arm around his waist once again, “Hold on tight,” she warned him, “And you might want to cross your fingers or something.” She said with a nervous chuckle.

She swung the yo-yo and for the second time that night, they sailed through the air, clinging to each other tightly. As the wind rustled their hair, Adrien turned, “I actually live right down the road from here.”

Marinette nodded. She, of course, already knew this, but that didn’t stop her from being glad that he mentioned it. She wasn’t entirely sure how she would have otherwise explained knowing his exact address.

They landed, much more gracefully than the last time, just as the fourth spot on Marinette’s earrings blinked. She unwrapped her arm from around his waist and turned to hide her blush, “I’d walk you to the door, but I’ve really got to dash!” She chucked the yo-yo up towards a lampost, but Adrien rested a hand on her arm.

“Wait-!”

Marinette’s eyes darted back and forth, “I r _eally_ have to go, I’m sorry.”

  
“Please... I just… can I see you again?”

She drew a sharp breath. “Oh, um… you want to see me again?” Marinette couldn’t wait another second, “I- yes, sure.” She promised, “Bye!”

She launched herself up and swung away without another glance behind her, slamming onto the roof of the next building right as she detransformed.

Tikki shot out of Marinette’s earrings, flitting back and forth with a pout. “Marinette, how could you?!”

“How could I what?” Marinette didn’t even bother to turn to face her. She stood up and peered over the roof. Below, Adrien was still looking up and searching the skyline, presumably for her. She ducked out of sight before he could spot her.

“That was way too close, Marinette! And you can’t put a civilian directly in danger like that! It’s not safe!”

Marinette waved her hand, “It’s no big deal! You saw him, he’s amazing! He could handle himself just fine. Besides, he _offered_ to help.” She blushed and buried her face in her hands, “And he wants to see me again!”

Tikki huffed, crossing her arms, “He offered to help because he likes you. You know that. You can’t just take advantage of him like that!”

Marinette pursed her lips, “But this is my only chance to be around him and get him to like me back. He doesn’t care about me when I’m myself, so this is the next best thing.”

“Don’t say that, Marinette. You can’t let Adrien draw your focus. Your job is to help people as Ladybug. That’s what your powers need to be used for. Not putting people in even more danger on purpose.”

“Ugh!” Marinette crossed her arms. “It’s not like I can’t keep him safe, too! What’s the point of having powers if I can’t sometimes use them for myself? I help people all the time—I like doing it! What is so bad about wanting to help myself a tiny bit too?”  
“As Ladybug you need to be selfless. You need to be able to make the right decisions when you’re in a tough situation. Having him around will just complicate things. You’re being selfish.”

Marinette scowled, “Selfish?!” She jumped up, checking to see if it was safe to leave, and stormed to the opposite side of the roof. “I’m being selfish?!” She hopped over the side and made her way down the old ladder on the side of the building, rung by rusty rung.

Tikki nodded, floating down beside her. “You need to be more responsible, Marinette. Think about the danger you might put him in.”

Marinette rolled her eyes as she plopped to the ground, but didn’t answer. Mostly because she couldn’t quite think of one.

Tikki dropped her look of irritation, “Marinette? Come on, talk to me.”

Marinette shook her head. “I just want to go home.” She griped.

Tikki nodded solemnly, settling into Marinette’s bag to hide, and gazing up at her from inside, a look of worry spreading across her little red face.

It was late. Or rather, early. A soft pink light shone just beyond the horizon, painting the early morning sky shades of violet and orange and red.

Marinette headed home on foot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the tourists in Paris are as bad as the tourists I deal with at work, then I have no doubt that the staff at the Grand Paris would all end up getting akumatized at some point or another. 
> 
> Also, I'd like to point out that I wrote the first half of this BEFORE Reflekta came out and basically ruined the yo-yo entanglement thing by breaking the rules of physics. Am I surprised? No. This show breaks physics in every episode. So for now I'm just pretending it happened here because she was nervous about Adrien. That's plausible, right?
> 
> And in other news, there is now an actual canon meeting for Ladrien and let me tell you I am DEAD. I've been waiting so long for this I want to cry. I also want to cry about the origins episodes. And the fact that there is only two episodes left. I want to cry about a lot of things to be honest.
> 
> Okay now I'm done. I'll try to update soon.


	4. Chasing the Cat's Tail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A project it assigned. Chat returns. Marinette is tired.

The following day in school, Marinette found herself sleeping through most of her classes. She thanked a higher power for Alya. The poor girl had written two copies of all her notes for every single class that day. Marinette tried to thank her during lunch, but with her head resting on the table and her voice muffled both by her arms and fatigue, it came out as more of a string of garbled noises. Alya gave her a gentle pat on the head and placed her jacket over Marinette like a blanket. She understood either way.

“When did you go to sleep last night?” She asked in a soft tone.

Marinette groaned from beneath the jacket, “I didn’t.” She croaked.

Alya chuckled, “Well, it looks like you’re not the only one.” She said, nudging Marinette up a little and pointing to Adrien across the courtyard. “Your _handsome boy_ over there is looking a little sleepy, too.”

The bags under Adrien’s eyes weren’t quite as bad as Marinette’s but they were still deep enough for Alya to have noticed them from far away.

Marinette had already figured, though. He’d had just as much of a late night as she had. She slumped back into her arms and waved her away. “I _juuuuust_ want sleep,” she slurred.

Alya shrugged. “Why don’t you go to the nurse and ask them to send you home? You really don’t look like you’re doing too hot.”

Marinette lifted her head and shook it back and forth, “I can make it.”

Raising an eyebrow, Alya half-smiled, “Alright then, hon, whatever you say. But if you find yourself nodding off again, just let me know before you smack your head into the desk again.”

The bell rang and Marinette peeled herself off the table. Back in class, she reassumed her position at her desk. Alya made sure to stand up a folder in front of her so their teachers wouldn’t catch her sleeping.

Her day would have remained uneventful if weren’t for Madame Bustier’s announcement of the class’ final project of the year. “All right class, you’ll be working in randomly assigned pairs, creating a presentation on your favorite piece of literature that we’ve studied this year. You will need to include your interpretation of the piece as well as a one page commentary on an excerpt of your choice.” She shuffled the stack of papers in her arms and handed them out, down each row.

Alya tapped Marinette on the shoulder, and she shot up from behind the folder right as Madame Bustier came to their row. She blinked, “Wha-?”

“Alya, you will be working with Adrien,” said Madame Bustier and she placed the sheet of paper on her desk in front of her, “And Marinette, you’ll be working with Nino.”

It didn’t quite register in her head what had just happened. Marinette turned to Alya as Madame Bustier moved up the rows of desks, “What’s going on?” She whispered.

Alya rolled her eyes, “It’s our final project. Just read the paper, you’re working with Nino.”

Marinette pouted. “Nino?” There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with working with Nino, she just found it unlucky to end up with Adrien’s best friend instead of Adrien himself.

Nodding, Alya studied the instructions on the paper, “I’ve got Adrien.” She turned and grinned, “Want me to put in a good word for you?” Her eyes darted to the side and rested on Nino, “Nino hasn’t, uh, talked to him yet, but I’ve got your back.” She winked.

Marinette raised a brow. If she weren’t so tired, she’d have noticed the lie. She murmured something incoherent before dropping back onto the desk and dozing off once again.

In front of them, Nino leaned into the back of his chair. Adrien smiled a gentle smile. “Better luck next time, huh?”

Nino groaned, “Of all the people in the class? I still haven’t lived down what happened at the zoo!”

Laughing Adrien patted him on the back, “Sorry man. But you and Marinette get along, right?”

“Yeah, sure. When I’m not thinking about how embarrassing that day was. And you get to work with Alya? It’s just not fair.” He took a deep breath, glancing back to the girls behind them. Alya caught his eye, her eyebrow raised and mouth curled into a smirk. She tilted her head in the sleeping Marinette’s direction.

Nino gestured to Adrien, who was busy loading his books into his bag beside him.

They shared a meaningful look before turning back to their respective friends.

Alya nudged Marinette awake, “Hon, it’s time to go.”

Marinette stirred and sighed. “Carry me?”

“No can do, sweetheart.” Alya chuckled in reply, ruffling Marinette’s hair as she slowly pulled herself up and swept her things into her bag. Alya propped Marinette’s arm around her shoulder as if she were helping her walk, which, with the shape Marinette was in, she essentially was, and they made their sluggish way out of the classroom.

It was sunny outside again, the first flowers finally peeking out from their buds. Tiny spots of pink dotted the branches. Petals scattered over the sidewalk by the gentle wind.

“Mari,” said Alya as they neared the bakery, “Do you want to switch partners?”

Marinette stumbled, “Sorry?” She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, “Totally did not catch that.”

“Would you like to switch partners?”

“What, so we would work together?”

Alya rolled her eyes and prodded her with her elbow, “No silly, you would work with Adrien! And I can work with Nino.”

Marinette realized what Alya was suggesting and considered it for only a moment before promptly answering, “Yes!”

Alya smiled, “I thought you might say that.” She opened the door for Marinette once they reached her home. “Do I need to tuck you in a read you a bed time story?” she joked.

“Will you check under my bed for monsters and give me a kiss goodnight?”

Alya planted a kiss on her forehead, “I’m sure you’re safe from the monsters, hon. Do you need help getting in?”

“No, no, I’m good.”

Alya gave her one last pat on the head, “I’ll let Nino and Adrien know, alright?”

Marinette nodded and headed in, “See you later.”

 

 

Marinette had just settled into her bed for a nap when her cell phone blared. She groaned, rolling out of the bed and lumbering to her desk where it sat. She answered it without even checking who it was. “Hello?!” She barked.

“Hey Marinette, it’s Adrien. Was this a bad time for me to call?”

Her eyes widened. Why hadn’t she just checked the contact?

“N-no, it’s fine, sorry, I’m just sort of tired is all.”

Adrien chuckled on the other side of the phone, “I’ve got you, no worries. I was just asking when you wanted to meet up? Nino apparently wanted to switch partners so he could work with Alya on something I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard.” Marinette chirped in the liveliest voice she could muster, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. She pulled the project directions from her bag and examined them, “Uh, this thing is due in a couple of weeks, right?”

“Yeah, just before finals.”

“Hm. Okay, then we should probably start working on it pretty soon.” She gazed longingly back at her bed, sighing, “Do you want to just come over today?”

“Right now?”

Marinette paused to check the clock, still early in the afternoon, “If you can make it, I guess.”

“Alright, see you soon.”

Her stomach flipped, “Bye!” Her mind a flurry of nerves and fatigue, she sat down, getting her bearings. “Tikki, what am I going to do? I’m so tired I’ll end up falling asleep in the middle of our project!”

Tikki popped her head out of the bag, “I thought you weren’t talking to me?”

Marinette groaned, “I’m sorry! I was just upset. I should have just listened to you in the first place. Then maybe I could have stopped the Inn-Spectre faster and gotten some sleep.”

Tikki’s face softened, “Marinette, it’s okay. As long as you understand why you need to be more careful in the future, alright?”

Marinette nodded.

“Okay!” Tikki squeaked, her voice now chipper, “You need something you wake you up, so go downstairs and get a snack or coffee or something. I’ll start tidying your room.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tikki!” She poked her gently on the head and dashed downstairs.

They had almost finished cleaning her room when the sound of terrified shrieks reached her window. Marinette dropped the papers in her arms, her eyes glazing over, “You have got to be kidding me! Now?” She climbed her ladder and poked her head out of the hatch. Seeing nothing, she pulled herself up and peered over the balcony.

Down in the park, the trees were rustling like mad. People were rushing as far from the park as possible, screaming. A branch extended up from the tree, moving on its own, more like a human limb than a tree limb, and rose into the air, twigs and leaves unfolding like outstretched fingers. The branch, like an arm, slammed down to the ground. From under the cover of the trees emerged a woman covered in green. She was a giantess of sorts, standing at least ten feet tall, her dress flowed out over what looked like the roots of a tree, curling and coiling through the ground as she moved forward. Her hair reminded Marinette of the long, soft, green grass one might find by the water.

The girl was covered in moss and flowers, blooming brilliantly before falling to the ground. Where the flowers fell, they sank into the ground, and from their places sprang wildflowers, shrubs and bushes. They spread out over the expanse of park, covering the grass, the sidewalk, their vines winding up lamp poles and bending them down with heavy force until they disappeared under the flood of green leaves.

The glint of Lieutenant Roger’s orange hair in the sunlight caught Marinette’s eye. Where the rest of the park-goers had run away from the woman, he made his way right towards her.

“You!” The lady boomed. “This park is mine now! It is protected!”

Roger stood firm, “M’am you need to leave! You’re in direct violation of the law!”

“Never!” She screeched. The branch of a nearby tree swatted out, sending Roger flying back. “I warned you! I told you I would bring true, natural justice for this park and all of Paris! You think banning me from the park could stop me? My protest knows no bounds and now neither will this park!” Her own arms rose into the air, gesturing to the world, “I’m am the Gaurdener! The sword and shield of mother earth! And I will reclaim this world for her!” The green of the park shot out in all directions. Vines and kudzu winded up the walls of the street buildings, covering windows and slithering up Marinette’s own home. She jumped back before they enveloped the railings of her balcony and spread over her floor.

“Tikki, we need to transform!”

“Right!” Tikki spiraled into Marinette’s earrings, spurring the transformation. Her mask and suit sweeping over her body like a second skin. “Let’s finish this fast. Adrien is going to show up soon.” She leaped over the balcony and landed gracefully on the sidewalk, then sprinting up the street and facing the Guardener, she stood tall with her hands planted squarely on her hips.

The Guardener sneered, “Oh, Ladybug? You came all this way for me?” She asked with mock astonishment, “I’d be _flattered_ , but really, I’m more interested in _flattening_ you, you pest!”

A massive vines sprang up from the grass underneath Marinette and wrapped itself around her. It lifted her up into the air, constricting tighter and tighter until she could barely breathe.

 

 

Not far down the street, Adrien made his way to Marinette’s address. Though he regretted nothing about the night before, he was still beyond tired and in the back of his mind, he hoped Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng would offer something to sustain him for an hour before he passed out in the middle of their work session.

He rounded the corner to find the Guardener’s mess, and worse, Ladybug trapped in the thick of it.

She cried out, struggling against the vines, but she couldn’t see him.

Plagg bounced out of Adrien’s pocket, “Dude, you don’t really have much of a choice this time, you have to transform.”

He nodded, frowning, and ducked into an alley.

“Plagg, transform me!” he called. His miraculous sucked Plagg into the ring and turned him into the leather-clad Chat Noir. He leaped into action and scampered out from his cover.

He darted for Ladybug, passing right by the Guardener, pouncing up the vines as they lifted higher and higher into the air, landing directly in front of his lady. He offered a cocky grin and a laugh and she immediately rolled her eyes at the mere sight of him.

“What took you so long? You been gone all week!”

He shrugged and started tugging at the vines, “I was busy, what can I say?”

She glared, “I had to stop not one, but two akumas on my own!”

“On your _own_?” He grumbled, still fumbling to rip the vines apart, to no avail.

“Yes, by myself, since you decided not to show up! Two akumas! Treadnought and the Inn-Spectre! He nearly flooded the city, and she nearly blew it all up! If it weren’t for…” She faltered, “Whatever it doesn’t matter, just get me out.”

Adrien pouted. Damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. “I’m a cat, I don’t like water! Have you thought about that?” He finally resorted to just jamming his baton between the knotted vines and using it like a lever to pry them apart.

“And what about the Inn-Spectre, hm? Scared of hotels, too?”

“Maybe I am.” He shot back. With a grunt, he pulled the stick as hard as he possibly could. Ladybug was released, but the two of them were sent falling. The pair thumped to the green mossy ground with a thud. More vines, these ones thorny, sprouted around them all at once, forming a cage.

“But why did you just disappear?!”

The vines thickened until no light could reach through the cracks. The air warmed as they closed in. Marinette, feeling the thorns jab at her side as the space got smaller, stepped out of the way, bumping into Chat Noir.

He yelped, smacking into another wall of thorns. “What was that for?”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Marinette barked, “But now that I think about it, I wish it had been.”

With his night-vision, Adrien could see as she crossed her arms and glowered.

“I thought we were supposed to be partners.”

He pursed his lips, “Aren’t we?”

“We can’t be if you aren’t even there!”

“I had things I needed to do!” He replied.

She groaned, “Were those things more important than your job?!”

 _Those things_ , he thought to himself, _Were for you. So yes. Like you would even care, apparently._ Of course, he couldn’t say that.

“Chat?”

He twitched, “Just…ugh!” He summoned cataclysm and destroyed the vine cage before it could crush them.

Outside the confines of their prison, the Guardener faced the opposite direction, spreading her jungle of greenery in all directions and laughing in victory.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Marinette snarled.

The Guardener spun back around and sent shrubbery flying towards them like a wave on a stormy sea. They hopped over it with ease and headed straight for the Guardener herself. Chat deflected her vines and attacks with his weapon, giving Marinette the chance to duck underneath the branches and leaves. She noticed, at the Guardener’s side, though covered in a layer of moss and flowers, a messenger bag covered in pins and hanging from her shoulder.

Marinette tossed her yo-yo to the air and cried out for her lucky charm. A pair of fabric scissors, much like her own at home, fell into her hands. This was an easy one.

While Chat distracted the Guardener, Marinette climbed her tree trunk-like dress, heading for the purse. Which probably would have been successful if Chat hadn’t been thrust back towards Marinette by a stray tree limb. Now in her direct line of sight, Marinette loosened her grasp and swung to the underside of the branch before the giant could swat her like a fly. _I’m not a real ladybug! This is not how I want to go!_

The giant whirled around. Marinette lost her grip of one branch and fell to another and then another as they shifted seamlessly beneath her like sinuous muscles under skin, lobbing Marinette this way and that. She almost collided with one trunk before ducking out of the way and nearly getting smushed between another two. With a twitch of her nose, she huffed, leaped out of the way once more, and aimed her yo-yo, flinging it around one particular branch. She secured it and hung on for dear life, still clinging to the scissors in her other hand.

The branch swayed back and forth, moving so fast it made her dizzy. She felt the nausea bubble up inside of her stomach. There was no way she’s reach the bag like this. “Chat!” She cried, catching his attention, “Cut the bag! I think the akuma is in in one of her pins!” She hurled the scissors in his general direction, probably not the safest thing to do.

He nodded, not that she could see him, and clawed the scissors off the ground. Leaping and bounding up the other side of the Guardener’s dress, he aimed for the bag and snapped the strap with the scissors. It fell to the ground, the pins flying off in all directions and sinking into the grass.

The Guardener gasped and with her attention off her, Marinette released her yo-yo. She and Chat dropped to the ground, sifting through the spongey moss and weeds, picking up each pin and snapping the backs off of each one as they found them.

Adrien shot up from the ground waving one around, “I think it’s this one!” In his hand, he held a green circular pin with a tree logo on it and the words, “Guardin’ the Garden, Save the trees!” He popped the back off and out fluttered the little, white akuma.

Eager to get it all over with, Marinette purified the butterfly and threw the scissors into the air, releasing the Guardener from the akuma’s control and returning everything back to its orderly place. The overwhelming vines and kudzu shriveled up and withered away, leaving the city to breath.

Chat left quickly and without a word before his transformation could wear off and Marinette sighed, helping the girl in front of her off the ground. Now only five feet tall, she was significantly less intimidating in her flowing green sundress and hemp purse.

“Are you alright?” asked Marinette.

“Ladybug?!”

She laughed, brushing her bangs off her sweaty face. “Yep!”

“Oh my gosh, you’re, like, a real-life superhero! Saving the planet and stuff! Can I have your autograph, I’m a huge fan!”

“Oh!” Marinette chuckled. “Yeah, sure.”

The girl pulled out a pen and a notebook bound in recycled paper and handed them to her, “This is so cool!”

Marinette had just barely signed her autograph when Lieutenant Roger returned to the scene with a stern face. Without a word, the girl yelped, snatching the notebook back out of Marinette’s hands and dashed out of the park.

Marinette laughed nervously to Roger, who didn’t look too pleased, and followed suit, making her way across the street and up to her balcony just in time. Tikki spiraled out of the miraculous as she landed straight through the hatch, bouncing onto her bed.

She groaned. The adrenaline rush had passed, her fatigue settled back in, and all she could think about was Chat Noir. “How could he just do that?!”

Tikki opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

“If he hadn’t been there that time it would have been a disaster!” rambled Marinette, “We’re supposed to be partners. He can’t just disappear like that. Just last night, if it hadn’t been for Adri- ADRIEN!” Her eyes widened, realization dawning on her, “He’s going to be here any second!” She pulled frantically at her hair. “I’m too tired for this right now! And on top of that, there’s Chat I don’t even know what to think about him and we were supposed to patrol tonight!” She fell back onto the bed, whimpering, “And that’s going to be an awkward disaster-- assuming he shows up, that is. I hate this!”

Before she could go off again, Tikki zipped up, face to face with Marinette, “Marinette, relax. You just need to rest and think responsibly about all of this. Now, Adrien will probably be late, there is no doubt that akuma caused a traffic jam with all her plants and vines so don’t even-”

The doorbell rang.

Eyes flashing open, Marinette was speechless.

“Well that was faster than I thought he’d be,” said Tikki.

“He’s already here?! How? Did he sprint or something?!” She shot upright twisted her legs off the bed, examining her reflection in her mirror on the other side of the room, “Oh no, I look terrible!” She pinched at her cheeks to brighten sickly pallour, and poked at the purple rings around her eyes. Her hair was still matted with sweat, her bangs were a mess, her day-old mascara was everywhere except for where it was supposed to be. To make matters worse, she remembered her parents were still cooking downstairs.

The same parents who were as equally obsessed with Adrien as she was.

“Oh no!” She bounded forward, doing her best not to trip as she raced down the stairs. Her father had already let him in.

“Adrien Agreste! What a pleasure, how are you doing?!”

Adrien smiled politely, messing with his hair, “I’m well, sir, and you?”

He gave a hearty laugh, “I’m doing just great!” Noticing Marinette, he grinned and snuck a wink as Adrien turned to see her.

“Hey Marinette!”

Marinette plastered the most maniacal of smiles on her face. Her attempts to soften if up were useless. “Hi Adrien! You can just head up to my room.” She yanked her dad by the elbow, “I have to talk to my papa about something. I’ll be up in a second.”

Adrien nodded and made his way upstairs, oblivious to Marinette glaring at her father behind him.

Tom faced Marinette, “Mari, do you want us to bake you some snacks? Is he here for a project or something?”

“Is it a date?!” Sabine piped up from the kitchen.

“Oh my god, mom, no!” She sighed and dropped her irritated expression, “Look, I’m sorry, I’m just… really tired. We’re just working on a project, I’m sure he’d love a snack.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, checking her reflection once again in the window and making a last attempt to tidy her bangs. She turned to give her parents a smile and headed up the stairs, but before she reached the top, she ducked back down and snapped, “But don’t be weird like last time!”

Tom and Sabine smiled, and hummed as they resumed their work.

Upstairs, Adrien stood stiff in the middle of Marinette’s excruciatingly pink room. He’d been there before, of course, but he just felt uncomfortable being there alone. The awkwardness that creeped into his mind was nearly as bad as his internal screaming. Why couldn’t Ladybug just understand? Sure, she didn’t know that he was Adrien, but was it such a big deal for him not to transform? To not be Chat Noir? Paris was able to exist without him before he got his miraculous so surely it still could now, right? He just wanted to be happy; he just wanted Ladybug. And even if he preferred the freedom that came with being Chat Noir, she had made it clear she wasn’t interested in that side of him. At least not as anything but a friend.

Before his inner turmoil could continue, Marinette came in, shutting the door carefully behind her. “Hey! Sorry about that. Do you want anything to eat? My parents are making something.”

“That’d be nice.”

“Okay, well, they may be a little while, so we should probably get started.”

He nodded, turning to pull the assignment sheet out of his bag.

Marinette cleared her desk, throwing a half-finished hat to her bed and pushing an embroidery design to the side. “Do you want to, uh, sit? I can’t imagine you want to do the entire project just standing there?” She pulled out a chair for him.

His big green eyes grew larger and his face flushed crimson. “Oh, yeah, sorry,” he grabbed the chair and sat down, staring at his lap to hide his face.

Marinette pretended not to notice his blush, but couldn’t keep from doing so herself. _He’s acting so shy_ , she thought, _That’s so cute!_

Adrien composed himself, holding out the paper, “Okay, so, we just have to pick out something we’ve studied this year and make a presentation for it, I guess.”

Marinette studied the instructions, “We need a description of the work, background, analysis, and interpretation plus the overall theme.”

“And don’t forget the commentary, too.” Adrien added.

“That’s a lot of work. How should we split it up?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, how about we decide what literary work we’re doing, first.”

“Good idea. Okay, okay, so… what have we even read this year? I’m not going to lie, I haven’t actually read most of the assigned stuff, Alya’s been helping me with most of it.”

He laughed, “Don’t worry, Nathalie- my dad’s assistant- she kind makes sure I do all my work, she’s really helpful so I read everything from this year.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, “The only books I got around to reading this year were Sleeping Beauty, some of the English Lit unit, and five pages of The Stranger.”

“Well, then, I guess we should pick one of those?” Adrien suggested.

Marinette nodded, turning the sheet around to look at the list of books from the year. She scanned the paper, touching her finger to titles she recognized, “Oh, I think I read Three Musketeers? And, uh… Romeo and Juliet? Oh, I read the sparks notes for Candide so I kind of know that one!”

“Do you think you make a whole presentation on one of those, though?”

She stretched her arms out in front of her and slumped onto the desk with a groan. “No.” She said with a dry laugh.

“Hm,” Adrien’s brows furrowed. He grabbed the paper and took at the list himself, “You said you read some stuff from the English unit?”

Marinette nodded – well, it a sort-of nod, at least— her face was still plastered against the desk, murmuring, “Yeah, I read some of the Shakespeare ones. It was the only stuff I could find good translations of.”

He nodded, “Okay then, what about Hamlet? That one had the best translations, I think. And there’s bound to be plenty of sparks notes for it if you’re unsure of anything,” He offered a smile.

She peeled herself off the desk, “Okay, that sounds good. How do you want to split up the work?”

He tapped his chin, “How about I do the background and description, since I have a pretty good understanding of all that, and you can do the analysis stuff, since it’s more interpretive?”

“That works for me,” She smiled, rubbing her hands together, “What sort of presentation should we do, though? A power point is so boring.”

“You’re a really good artist, I bet we could use that for something, right?”

Marinette glanced off to the side, her cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink, “Uh, yeah, sure I guess.”

Adrien grinned, “Awesome! Your art is so cool. We’re definitely going to have the best project.”

Her face went beet red. “Y-yeah, the best one!” She dragged her sketchbook off the edge of the table started doodling, keeping her face down.

Adrien leaned forward to see what she was drawing, “What’s that?”

She bit her lip, “Well, it’s a play, right? I was thinking, maybe since it’s a play, we could kind of perform our presentation as the characters? I could design some costumes or props or something? I don’t know, it’s probably a dumb idea.”

“What are you talking about?!” Adrien exclaimed, “That’s sounds so cool!”

She couldn’t hide her smile. “You think?”

“Of course!” He chuckled, “Now I feel kind of useless. You’re doing the bulk of the work.” His eyes darted to the ground. “Um, is there anything you, uh- is there anything I can help you with?”

She looked up from her designs and gave a reassuring smile, “I’m sure there is something. I don’t know how long it will take to actually sew a bunch of period outfits, you can help me with all of that.”

He frowned, “I can’t even sew, though. Are you sure there is nothing else I could do? I could do some of the analysis if you want? So you’d have more time to work on your stuff?”

Marinette tilted her head and swiveled her chair around so she was facing him properly. “You don’t have to do that, don’t worry. And I promise there is something you can do to help. You don’t need to know how to sew. And besides,” She turned back to her work, eyes twinkling, “At the very least, you can stick around to keep me company.”

At that moment, the hatch on her floor burst open. Her parent’s heads peeked out. Tom lifted up a plate of cookies, “I have goodies!”

Adrien gazed at the plate. There were just so many cookies. He practically gobbled the whole thing up with just his eyes.

Sabine laughed, “They’re for eating, not for looking at!” She tugged at Tom’s elbow and pulled him away. They left the plate on the floor.

Adrien once again found himself in the position of not quite knowing what to do. Twice in less than an hour, must be some sort of awkwardness record. He stared longingly at the plate, basking in the sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies. They looked so soft. The chocolate chips on top were still all melty and gooey.

He silently thanked Marinette for finally placing the plate on the table. “Dig in,” She smiled, taking one for herself.

He licked his lips, grabbing a cookie in both hands, and ate half of the first one in a single bite. His eyes closed and a gentle smile lit up his face, oh, it was heaven! The warmth spread through his body as the delicious taste of chocolate melted on his tongue. Hints of sugar-sweet vanilla and honey filled his mouth as he chewed and savored every bite. His enjoyment was only stopped when he noticed Marinette, staring at him with a look of amusement.

She giggled, “I take it they’re good?”

His face took on a rosy tint. “Um, yes. Sorry.” he replied, swallowing the last of the treat.

She gave him a pat on the back, “Don’t apologize. My parents are just that awesome.” She took a bite of her own cookie, then set aside a couple for Tikki.

“Are you going to eat those?” Adrien eyed them.

“Oh! These?” She laughed nervously, “Um, I’m just saving some for later. They’re so good I don’t want to just gorge on them!” She rubbed her belly.

He ignored her weirdness and turned his focus back to the glorious, glorious food. “I can’t believe you get to eat stuff this good every day. You’re so lucky!”

Marinette shrugged, “Perks of baker parents. But come on, you live in a mansion! Your dad is world-famous! Don’t tell me that isn’t way more amazing.”

His chewing slowed and he set his next cookie down. “Yeah, I mean, I guess it’s pretty cool.” He swallowed the last chocolate chip. “I don’t really see him all that often though. And the house is so… empty all the time. It’s actually pretty boring,” He looked up, “You’d be surprised.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“No, really. I barely have time to myself between school and fencing and Chinese and tutoring and photoshoots and,” he paused, “various other things. It’s like court-mandated community service. Except my dad is the court and I never committed any crime except existing.”

“Interesting metaphor.” Marinette smirked. “But hey, despite all that you still manage to be a nice person. You could have easily ended up spoiled or something like a certain platinum blonde we know. I think that’s a good thing.”

He stared at the floor, “You think?”

Marinette shrugged, “I mean, what do I know? I think you just need to stay positive.” She gave him a playful punch in the arm and glanced at the clock. She grimaced; it was nearly time for her evening patrol. “Er, you know what? It’s getting kind of late.” Standing up, she headed to the door and opened it for him, ushering him out as fast as she could like a mother on her kid’s first day of kindergarten. “You should probably head home. I’ll just, uh, get started on my end of the project. Lots of work and stuff to work on!”

Startled, Adrien gathered the rest of his things and made his way out, “Uh, when do you want to get together to work on this again-?”

“I’ll talk to you at school!” She waved frantically, nudging him down the stairs and out the door, “Bye!”

Adrien left, the door shutting abruptly behind him. Plagg floated out of his pocket and hovered beside him as started home.

“Are you going to go on patrol today?” He asked. “You and Ladybug didn’t seem to be getting along very well, hmm?” He mused.

Adrien groaned, the memory of their fight coming back to him. “Oh no, what am I going to say to her? She was so angry!”

“You could always just apologize for, you know, not showing up when she needed you?”

“But I did!” He waved his arms around.

“She doesn’t know that.”

He sighed, “I don’t know what to do. I’d rather just not go, I’m too scared of what she’s going to say.” He stopped, leaning against a lamppost, his face forlorn, “But if I don’t go I’ll only make it all worse!”

“Just make a decision and stick to it. That’s really all the advice I can give to you. Except to advise you to feed me because I’m am too tired for a transformation right now.”

Adrien banged his head against the pole a few times, “I hate this! This was such a bad idea.”

“Hey,” said Plagg, “You made your bed, now lay in it. And feed me, yeesh.”

He rolled his eyes and pulled a piece of camembert from his bag, holding it out for Plagg who devoured it in one big bite. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Well you better choose quick or you’re going to be late.”

 

At their usual meeting spot, Marinette stood with a scowl on her face, tapping her foot in wait.

Chat never showed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys finally get to see an akuma I actually like! Hope you guys like this chapter. I meant to say this when I posted the last one, but everyone's comments are so sweet and always bring a smile to my face so thank you so much!!!


	5. A Disappearing Cat Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A choice is made. The mistakes start piling up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D :D :D :D :D

Adrien stared down at his ring, breathing a heavy sigh. The miraculous glinted in the morning light that peeked through his enormous windows. He blinked, looking away before it could blind him, and turned off the alarm on his phone before it could go off a second time.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi15_zps2j43peia.png.html)

From his bedside table, Plagg snored.

Adrien glanced to his side and gently shook him awake, “Do you actually even need sleep?” He asked, though the question was a bit rhetorical.

Plagg nodded awake and huffed, “Time to wake up already? Ugh!”

But Adrien couldn’t even bring himself to get out of bed. He flopped backwards, right back onto the pillow, and flung his arms into the air, gesticulating. “I’m such an idiot!” His hands ruffled through his hair in a frenzy. “Why didn’t I go?”

Plagg twitched his nose, “You tell me.”

“Ugh!” He groaned, “I just didn’t want to deal with it. I don’t know. I just thought future me could deal with it but now I _am_ future me and I really, really don’t want to.”

Plagg rolled his eyes, “I’m just going to go back to sleep. Wake me up when you’re done freaking out.”

Adrien turned on his side and burrowed his face in his hands. He could feel the cool metal of the ring against his cheek. “I love being Chat Noir, but…” He said to no one in particular, “But I love her too. And She doesn’t love me—him. But…” He turned back onto his back and gazed at the ceiling high above him, “She might love… _me_. Or she could. At least she wouldn’t hate me like she hates me as Chat. I don’t even blame her, I hate me! I hate this whole thing!”

Plagg stirred, “Could you freak out a little quieter?”

His eyes drooped, “I’m sorry- I… Maybe I’m not cut out for this anymore. I’m too caught up with this whole thing—and her. Maybe Nino had the right idea. I should just pursue her as, well, me; Adrien.”

“You can’t just quit on being a superhero, pal. That’s not how it works.”

“I don’t know! But I do know I’m no good of a superhero without her and she probably doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. Trying would just be useless.” He looked back at his phone. He was running out of time. With an exasperated sigh, he pulled himself out of bed, “I guess I better get ready.”

He wouldn’t say anything to Plagg, but as he washed up and dressed and headed out that morning, he made a personal resolution.

No more Chat Noir. From now on, he could just be Adrien.

 

* * *

 

 

On patrol the following night, Marinette found herself focused more on Chat’s absence than on any disturbances in the city. From her perch on a low rung of the Eiffel Tower, she stared out at the Champs de Mars and bounced her yo-yo up and down, deep in thought.

First he disappeared during akuma attacks, then the fight, and now this? It wasn’t her first time alone on patrol, and neither was the day before, but at least when he was gone before, he’d always let her know he’d be missing. Was it that hard for him to call her and just say he was busy? She figured this time he was just doing it out of spite, but she still couldn’t help but worry about his whereabouts. He was her teammate, her partner, one of her best friends.

She perked up at sight of movement down the street.

Adrien walked with as much purpose as he could muster towards the tower. Plagg hovered next to him, hidden by the hazy twilight.

“What are you doing? Are you still not going to transform?”

He bit his lip, “I think I’m just…”

“Just what?”

“I think I’m just going to take a break on being Chat Noir.” He said.

“A break?!” Plagg’s voice cracked, breaking his usually laid-back demeanor, “This isn’t like school, Adrien, you don’t just get to, ‘take a break!’”

“Yeah, well I’m doing it anyway.” Adrien hushed him.

“Then why are you still wearing your miraculous then?”

Adrien’s gaze shifted to the side, “It’s just in case.”

Plagg lifted a brow, “Just in case? You know you can’t just quit, _see_?”

“I’m not quitting!” He exclaimed, “I’m just taking a few days off. And technically not even that, I’m still going to go help Ladybug, just without my powers. It’s better this way.”

“You really can’t make up your mind, can you kid?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, gesturing for Plagg to hide in his pocket as they neared the tower. Ladybug eyed him from above. He looked up, catching her gaze and offered a timid wave.

“What are you doing here?” She called down.

“You looked lonely.”

Marinette smiled, confused, “How did you even find me?”

“You can spot those spots from all the way down the southern end of the street.” Adrien laughed, “Actually, I was just in the area and I saw you.” He explained.

“Well… if you’re here,” She tossed her yo-yo around the rung, creating a pulley, and dropped it to the ground in front of him, “Care to join me?”

He gave a friendly salute, grabbing the yo-yo, and she pulled him up with ease. They came face to face and she met his eyes with a smile, helping him settle onto the rung beside her, “How’s it going?”

“Oh, same old, same old.” He chimed, “Where’s your partner? Still missing in action?”

“You know, that’s a good question that I would personally love to know the answer to,” She sighed, somewhat facetiously, “Alas!” She cried, feigning distress, “He’s nowhere to be found!”

Adrien chuckled, “Well, I’d offer to be your knight in shining armor, but I doubt you’d really need that.”

“Doesn’t hurt to have one though,” Marinette smiled.

“Is that a job offer?”

“Well,” Marinette curled her legs up to her chest and leaned against the lattice, “You’ll have to complete the interview, first.”

Adrien smirked, “I didn’t know there was an interview portion. I didn’t come prepared.”

“I’m looking to hire, what did you expect?” She smirked right back at him, their eyes locked as they spoke.

“And if you hire me what sort of compensation am I looking at? I’m already a paid model so you’ll have to really impress me with the offer.” He challenged.

“Is the pleasure of my company not enough?” She asked in mock offense.

His brow raised, “I’d say just the opposite. I think it’s priceless.” And winked.

Marinette blushed, her mind screaming at her to _Breath! Breath!_ “Well I can’t make any official offers until you agree to the interview.”

“And if I agree?”

“Are you agreeing?” She inquired.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t answer mine.”

They both sat facing each other, staring steadfast at the other like there was nothing else in the world that could capture their attention. The flirty smiles spread over both their faces and for once in her life, Marinette didn’t feel the usual twinge of awkward that normally came over her whenever she talked to Adrien.

Meanwhile, Adrien’s heart was a hummingbird. He could feel it pounding so hard he was worried she might be able to hear it beating. The awkward may have disappeared, but his nerves certainly hadn’t. Behind every coy smile, his mind was racing. He knew he was probably going to get an earful of teasing from Plagg, who, nestled against his chest could probably feel his heartbeat. Assuming he wasn’t going to already get an earful about not transforming in the first place.

“I guess I’ll just have to start, then?” Marinette asked.

Adrien nodded.

“Alright then.” She simpered, “As my, quote unquote, ‘knight in shining armor,’ will you be as courageous as you possibly can be? Will you brave even the worst of the worst by my side?”

 _I already do_ , he thought to himself with a sly smile, “Of course.”

“And will you offer your help where it is needed.”

“If you wish.”

“Hmm,” She tapped her chin as if making a decision, “Okay, one last question, then. Will you be there when I need you to be?”

Adrien’s breath slowed. Was she talking about him, or… _him_?

She tilted her head, waiting, “Well?”

He hopped to his feet and bowed low before her and lifted his head to look her right in the eye, “Wherever and whenever, my lady.”

Marinette’s flirty grin dropped and she blinked and broke their eye contact. Her gaze fell to her hands.

That was just way too familiar.

Adrien’s eyes widened. Oh no! _That was too obvious, wasn’t it?!_ His brain buzzed... _She knows. She’s going to hate me. She’ll never talk to me again!_

Marinette pushed the thought to the back of her head. Adrien wasn’t Chat, even if he flirted like him. He wasn’t the one she was angry with. She glanced up through her lashes, catching his eyes. “You’re hired.”

He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding and straightened up, offering a hand to Ladybug.

She took it, pulling herself up, her fingers lingering against his before she snatched her hand away. His hands were so warm.

“I guess we better get going, then,” She grabbed him by the waist and hooked an arm around him, pulling him into her side. With her other hand, she threw her yo-yo up. It wrapped around a railing and came down on the other side. They hopped off the edge of the rail together and slowly descended to the ground. He clung to her with one arm around her shoulder and the other steadied on her waist. Their feet touched the ground and before she let go, he gave her the tiniest squeeze.

Marinette’s eyes drifted to the side and she blushed. “Come on!” She grabbed his hand and took off, tugging him after her as she raced down the road, fingers clasped together.

Adrien held on tight, even as they reached the streets lined with buildings and scaled up the first one. She helped him up and they strolled from one roof to the next.

“Chat and I don’t always find an akuma during patrols, but it’s still good to be vigilant, you know?”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Adrien nodded. “And what do we do if we do find one?” He asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer.

“We stop them, obviously. But you already knew that.” She laughed.

Adrien tensed, “…I did?” _Does she know?_

“Of course! You helped me fight that other one the other day. You’re already a pro, how about that?” She patted him on the back, oblivious to the expression of panic on his face.

His uneasiness settled. “And if we don’t find one?”   
“Well then, I hope you like long walks not on the beach and some good company,” She winked. “Actually, Chat Noir and I were going to start searching for Hawkmoth’s lair before he…” She looked out over the horizon as the sun set beneath it, “Well, it’s whatever.”

“I can help you look for it.” Adrien said, ignoring the twinge of guilt panging at the back of his mind.

Marinette shrugged shifting on her feet, “To be honest I don’t even know where to start.”

“No clues? Ideas?”

“I mean, obviously, he’s probably here in Paris. That’s… something, I guess.”

Adrien pursed his lips and rubbed his neck, “Uh… he uses those butterflies, right?”  
“Yeah, they infect people with powers that he gives them when they’re upset or vulnerable.”

“So you have to find what they’re hiding in?” He asked, pretending not know.

“Yes,” She nodded, “Breaking it releases the akuma. Once it’s out I can purify it and everything can go back to normal and be reset. But that doesn’t help me or anything.”

Actually, Adrien had been thinking about for a while; ever since Ladybug had mentioned the possibility of searching for Hawkmoth’s location. How does Hawkmoth just have such an endless supply of butterflies? “Where do they go once you purify them, though?”

This piqued her interest, “I—I don’t know, actually.”

Adrien leaned forward, “What if they go _back_?”

Her eyebrows raised, “Back to Hawkmoth? I had never even thought about that. You’re a genius!”

His face tinted pink, “I really don’t think—I mean, I’m not—I mean it was obvious,” He stared with wide eyes, stammering, “I mean- uh, not that obvious, not that you’re stupid or anything; you aren’t stupid, you’re really smart, I just--”

Marinette giggled, squeezing his shoulder, “Relax. You’re right, we should follow one.”

“How are supposed to find one, though?”

She ran her hand through her bangs and sighed, “I guess for once, I’m actually hoping that someone gets akumatized,” She laughed, “God, that’s so weird.”

They gazed out over the Paris skyline for a moment. Adrien broke the silence, “With my luck, this could take a while.”

Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, a massive plume of fabric erupted from down the road with a volcanic boom.

Marinette smirked, turning back to Adrien, “Or,” She laughed, “With _my_ luck this won’t be too much of a wait.” She grabbed his hand and they raced across the rooftop.

“That was kind of convenient,” Adrien laughed back.

“Luck powers,” Marinette gave a noncommittal shrug, “It just tends to happen that way.”

“I’ve noticed,” Adrien said under his breath.

Right outside the Paris opera house they found a thirty-something masked woman in a gold and black skintight suit and a grand, fur-lined red cape. A fashion magazine rested in one of her arms while the other was cast into the air. Before her, the massive column of glossy silk fluttered upwards and covered the sky like a Paris-sized tent. The moonlight vanished as the cloud of fabric blocked it out of view and a dark shadow spread over the city. The twinkling lights of the Paris buildings and the towers dimmed, casting eerie silhouettes over the silk as it hovered and draped above them.

The woman’s eyes, wide with triumph, gleamed as she spotted Ladybug, “Ah, the infamous Ladybug! I’m Fabriquant! I’d engage, but it isn’t you that I’m after! My vision is significantly more of a… _global phenomenon_!” Her eyes narrowed, “And besides, there is someone who must pay for having wronged me!” She flung open the magazine in a dramatic fashion and twirled her hand over the fluttering pages like a witch over her cauldron. Out of the pages emerged an army of clothes, Agreste designs. “Gabriel Agreste!” She cried, “I’m coming for you!”

Adrien gasped, “My father!”

“We have to get to your house before she does.”

The animated clothes surged forward, almost as if they were actually being worn, their movements sporadic and inhuman. Hundreds of gowns, suits, shirts, pants, and shoes rushed towards them, swinging purses and bag in the air above them as weapons.

Marinette and Adrien whipped back around and ran as fast as they could in the direction of the Agreste mansion.

“What do you think she wants with your father?!” Marinette called over the thundering clack of designer heels and dress shoes.

“I have no idea,” he replied. They neared the house, hopping over chimneys and shingles and concrete roofs. “Maybe she’s an intern?” He suggested, “He fires them all the time for no reason, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was angry enough to retaliate!”

“Or be akumatized,” Marinette frowned.

They reached the roof of Adrien’s home. Below them, the clothes swarmed the house, clamoring over each other to slide through the iron gates. Sleeves and pant legs seized between the bars like outstretched arms and legs. Fabriquant strolled behind them, strutting down the street like a model commanding a catwalk.

Marinette turned to Adrien, “We have to get in and warn him!”

He nodded and made for the other side of the roof, kneeling down and opening a skylight, “Come on!” He jumped down. Marinette followed after him.

They landed in a long, narrow hallway with high ceilings. It was dark inside without the light of the moon shining through the tall, ornate window at the end of the hall.

“Let’s go,” Adrien whispered.

A tall, lanky silhouette stepped into the faint light, “ _Go where_?”

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi17_zpsml71zygb.png.html)

The hallway lit up as Gabriel Agreste switched on the light. He stood firm at the end of the hallway, a stern look hardened to his face.

“Father?!”

“Adrien.” He addressed his son, his calm voice contrasted against Adrien’s panicked one. “What are you doing out of bed this hour?”

“I- I was just—“

“Don’t worry, Mr. Agreste,” Marinette stepped forward and smiled reassuringly. “I came here to help you escape, there is a villain out there who wants to kidnap you, possibly worse. Adrien was just helping me into the house.”

He looked unconvinced, “Through the roof?”

Marinette’s eyes shifted to the side as she started babbling, “Oh, yeah, that’s, uh, because… well, you see, that just, uh, there were just too many of the clothes, yeah, too many of the clothes to get through to the… to the door?” She could practically taste the un-persuasiveness of her words.

“There’s a horde of cloth soldiers out there,” Adrien cut in, backing up her story and pointing out the window. “I heard her footsteps on the roof. That’s why.”

Gabriel nodded, though he still didn’t look entirely convinced. His frown flattening into a hard line, he turned his focus to Marinette, “Ladybug.”

  
She met his eyes, trying to hide the fear in her face as she nodded.

“While I can certainly appreciate your efforts to protect me, I am more than capable of handling myself--” he grabbed Adrien by the elbow and pulled him to his side, “--as well as my son, perfectly fine, thank you.”

“Mr. Agreste, I really don’t think—“

“- And, what I don’t appreciate is you breaking and entering my home at such an absurd hour-“

“Sir, I didn’t break in--”

“You might be an important figure in our city and I can respect that and what you do, but you are in my home and I would kindly appreciate if you would leave.”

“Mr. Agreste--”

“Dad!” Adrien shouted over their arguing.

Gabriel shut his eyes in disdain, “Adrien, I--”

“Look out the window!” Adrien, face fuming, tugged his father down and around to look out at the legion of designer clothes just outside as they tore down the wrought iron gates. “You aren’t safe here. Ladybug is just trying to help--”

“Do not talk back to me, Adri-“

“Sir!” A woman with reddish hair and a suit, Marinette recognized as Gabriel’s assistant, rushed down the hallway. Adrien’s bodyguard tailed after her. She panted as if she’d just outrun a crowd of zombies. Or clothes. “Sir, you are under attack. We need to get you out of here.”

“Nathalie, I’m aware. I am busy at the moment, would you please turn on the security system, and--“

“No, you don’t understand, they’ve already gotten through the house’s defenses. They’re on their way upstairs right now.”

As the words escaped her lips, the doors at the opposite side of the hallway burst open, unleashing a mass of silk and gabardine figures, clamoring down the hall.

Nathalie screamed, “Sir!”

Before Marinette could act, the bodyguard blocked the hallway with his body, punching the first wave out of the way. But they only got up, completely unharmed, and swept over him like a tsunami of cloth, pushing him down and smothering him underneath.

Wordlessly, Gabriel grabbed Adrien and Nathalie, gesturing with his head for Marinette to follow him, and scrambled through the door beside him. They slammed the door shut and barricaded it with a wardrobe.

“The windows,” Marinette pointed, “They’re still plenty out there that could get in.”

Gabriel nodded and together, they shoved a dresser in front of the window.

“It’s not tall enough!” Marinette frowned, “Why do your windows have to be so large?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry about that right now.” He meant business. He fiddled with a keypad on the far wall and pressed his hand to a sensor. A panel of the wall shifted to the side to reveal a secret opening, “This will lead us to the atrium. We can get out from there, come on.”

Nathalie rushed Adrien through the doorway. Marinette followed closely, exchanging glares with Gabriel as she went through.

As Gabriel shut the door behind them, they could just barely catch the sound of glass shattering and clothes piling through the window. He sighed, deeply. “Let’s go.”

They walked in silence, their footsteps the only sound as they headed through the narrow hallway and down a set of stairs. Marinette spoke up, “They’re all being controlled by one person. She’s a woman, we don’t know her name, but she looked in her thirties, tall, short hair. She looked dark skinned, but I couldn’t tell on account of her skin literally being purple. Does any of that sound familiar? She said she had a personal beef with you. Something about her designs, I think?”

Gabriel pursed his lips. “She might work for me, I don’t know. I employ a lot of people, Ladybug, I can’t be expected to remember every single one of them.”

“Not even this one? It sounded very personal. Are you sure?”

He shrugged, clearly irritated.

“Father,” Adrien piped up, “Please, anything you remember can help, I’m sure.” His voice, urgent, “ _Please_.”

Gabriel softened a little and sighed, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “Actually… that description does sound like someone I spoke to recently. Eve Laurent, she’s in charge of doing the layouts for the fashion spreads in our magazine, but she’s been asking recently about moving into design work or starting her own business.” He gave a bitter, empty chuckle, “She came to me for advice, or a promotion, and of course, I can’t help a potential competitor. That’s just poor business tactics. I told her that her designs weren’t good enough to be produced or shown on a runway and she quit on the spot.”

Adrien looked dismayed, “Dad, why would you say that to her? How would you have expected her to react?”

“We don’t have time to worry about that right now.” Marinette cut in, “At least we know who she is and why… why this is happening. I can’t figure out how to stop her until I get close enough and I can’t get close enough with all these living clothes.”

“There has to be a way to incapacitate them, right? They’re only an extension of her power so they can’t be completely unstoppable.” Adrien replied.

“Fabric scissors, maybe?” Gabriel suggested.

“That should work. Anything that can take them apart permanently. Scissors, seam rippers, the like. Where would we even find that though?” Marinette wondered.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “You’re in the home of a fashion designer? I have everything we need in my office. It will be a little bit of a detour, though.” He hung his head, “Right down here,” He placed his hand on another pressure sensor, letting the scanner read his prints. The door slid open to an empty hallway and he started for the other side, “It’s down the hall from here, let’s hurry.” But he turned around, his stern expression boring into Adrien’s eyes, “Adrien, you stay here. It’s not safe.”

“But father-!”

“No. It’s not safe. Nathalie, come with me.”

Nathalie nodded solemnly and followed after him.

Marinette offered Adrien a smile and a pat on the shoulder, “He’s right. Just to be safe. We’ll come right back, I promise.”

He huffed as she walked away and leaned against the wall with an exasperated sigh. Right on time, Plagg rose out of his pocket, “Kid, you know the solution here.”

Adrien pouted, “No. I told you, I’m not transforming. Not… not for a while at least.”

Plagg raised a brow and ducked back into the pocket, “Your call, man. But if your dad gets hurt-“

Adrien glared, “My father is safer this way. He’ll find out if I transform. You know how he’ll get about that.”

Plagg rolled his eyes and quieted down.

Down the hallway, the trio dove into Gabriel’s office. It wasn’t quite what Marinette had expected. Instead of the sophisticated high ceilings and ornate furniture she expected to find, it was actually rather quaint. Sure, it was definitely a large room, but compared to the rest of the house, it was nothing special. The windows were wide, Marinette assumed that was to let the light in, but they weren’t anywhere near as decorative as the ones in the hallway. His desk was a simple design, white, just a flat space with no drawers. Some smaller tables lined the walls, cluttered with supplies and sketchbooks. Possible design ideas were pinned to the walls everywhere. It reminded Marinette of her own room.

“Come on,” muttered Gabriel. He gestured to a corner of the room. A massive shelf held baskets of sewing supplies. He pulled them down, one by one, and handed them off to Nathalie and Marinette. “Try these.”

They rifled through the baskets, pulling out scissors and seam rippers and everything sharp and dangerous.

As Nathalie searched the other side of the room, Gabriel’s biting tone cut the silence, “Aren’t you supposed to have a partner, Ladybug?”

Marinette glared, _Is he trying to make conversation?_ “I’m not supposed to _have_ anything. Chat Noir is his own person and he does what he wants.”

His gaze followed her closely. “I thought you two normally work together to stop these sorts of things?”

Marinette could swear she caught him glance at her earrings for a split second, but it was too dark to tell, “Like I said, Chat does what he wants. He didn’t want to be here. So he’s not.” She piled the supplies into her arms and stood up. “I think that’s enough defense for now.”

Carrying their make-shift weapons in hand they headed back down the hall. In the middle, the hall diverged into a T-shape, the other one ending in a grand staircase, and rumbling up from it came the clothes. The three of them ran, wide-eyed, scrambling for the door and bolting through. With no time to shut it closed, they leapt through the doorway and down the hall. Adrien had no time to ask questions before his father grabbed one hand and Ladybug grabbed the other, dragging him behind them as fast as they could. The cloth army thundered through the doorway, close on their heels as they stumbled their way through the dark hall and out into the atrium.

They collectively heaved the door shut, holding off the clothes until it was completely sealed. Gabriel opened another hidden panel on the other side of the room. Nathalie headed through. Marinette tossed Adrien a pair of scissors, “You guys go! I’ll hold them off!”

Adrien stomped his foot, “We can’t leave you here, I’m staying.”

“No you are not! Adrien, come with me,” Gabriel gripped his elbow.

“Dad, let go of me! I’ll be fine. _You_ need to get out of here.”

Gabriel’s already thin frown tightened even more, “It is not safe here. Ladybug clearly has this handled, so let’s go.” He pulled his son’s arm, hard.

“Let go of me!” Adrien ripped his arm out of his father’s grasp. “I can handle myself, I’m not a baby!”

“It is not safe for you!” Gabriel’s nostrils flared, “I will not have let you put yourself in danger just so you can be childish and rebellious! Now come with me at once!”

The wall burst open, silky suited soldiers broke down on them like a tidal wave. Gabriel lost his grip on Adrien and tore through the fabric with his scissors, satin and tulle and velvet dropping to the floor with each snip.

Marinette dug through the clothes, shielding herself with her yo-yo in one hand, and ripping through with the scissors in her other hand. “Adrien! Mr. Agreste!” She lost sight of them in the skirmish.

From above, more clothes hung from a chandelier. It dangled in the air, buckling under the new weight, until the cable snapped. Marinette ducked out of the way just in time as it came crashing to the ground, sending even more cloth zombies with it.

She landed next to Adrien, who was doing well on his own fending off the horde, and took down a pantsuit creeping behind him. He turned around, on the attack, stopping as he realized it was just Ladybug, and breathed a sigh of relief.

She nodded, panting, and they turned away from each other, back to back, to face the crowd of garments circling around them. As they cut through the attire, Adrien just barely caught sight of his father as he was pushed through the secret door and out of view. “Father!” He cried out.

“He should be fine if we can stop these guys and find Fabriquant in time!” Marinette assured, “I need your help more than ever!”

She was right. Adrien drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Together, they slashed through what was left of the swarm, leaving a massive pile of silk and taffeta scraps in their wake. Once the area was clear, they ducked through the tunnel before more clothes could arrive, sprinting as fast as they could.

Adrien let out a faint laugh, “Isn’t running with scissors a supposed to be dangerous?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and smirked, “Well, hey, if your dad isn’t here to tell you not to do it does it matter?”

“Fair point.” Adrien smiled.

As they ran, she couldn’t help herself from gaping at the walls of the tunnel. It was narrow, and cramped, but very tall, with ceilings so high she had no doubt they ran all the way up to the roof of the house. The walls were lined with black paneling, the fancy modern kind that looks like it could shift and move with the press of a button. “Does your house just have a lot of these secret passages?”

He shrugged, though it was almost imperceivable as they ran, “I knew we had _some_ , but... I’ve never seen either of these before. I’m sure my dad has tons of them all over the house.”

The hall ended with a grate. Or, it probably should have, Marinette guessed. The iron bars had been mangled and bent out in all directions, leaving a massive hole. They jumped through, one after the other and somersaulted into the Agreste’s garden. In the dim, reddish light, it was empty. The eerie quiet left Marinette unsettled.

Adrien gulped, “Where did they all go? We can’t have gotten them all, right?”

She nodded, “Some of them left with Gabriel, but where did they take him?”

Their question was answered with a yelp. Up above, on the roof, Gabriel Agreste dangled upside-down from a thin sheet of cotton, suspended in the air by the Fabriquant herself.

She cackled, surrounded by her countless soldiers on either side. “How does it feel, Gabriel, darling? To be without power? Do you feel helpless?!”

He struggled, offering only a disdainful sneer in reply.

“Feeling a little shy, hm?” She hummed, her pleasant smile contrasting with the mood. “But why? Look who’s here to watch you die!” She pointed to Adrien on the lawn.

Marinette and Adrien jumped back reflexively, though she had dealt no attack. Gabriel spotted him and gasped, his expression betraying the fear in his eyes.

Fabriquant laughed, “That certainly got your attention, didn’t it?!”

He ignored her, yelling to Adrien, “Get out of here! Run!”

“Oh, but I’m not interested in him!” She mused. A sheet of silk extended before her like a catwalk. She sauntered down it to meet Gabriel face to face. “I’m not interested in hurting some random child.”

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief.

“But, if he’s the only one who can get you to react... well, I guess I just have to do what I have to do. For everyone’s benefit.” She giggled, “Or _mine_ , at least,” and swung her arm out and faster than they could blink. A long swath of dark velvet spun out from her magazine and roped itself around Adrien.

He flailed, gasping for breath, before the fabric cocooned around his face and chest, strangling the air out of his lungs.

“NO!” cried out Gabriel and Marinette.

“Please! I’ll do whatever you need, what ever you want!” Gabriel begged, “Anything, just let him be!”

Marinette threw her yo-yo at the animated velvet, tugging and tearing at it with all her might trying to free Adrien, and calling his name.

She smirked, “Ah, have I persuaded you?”

“I’m convinced! I was just...being selfish when I... when I said those things to... I’ll do anything, please! Just let him go!”

Her head tipped to the side, “Hm... okay.” She snapped and the velvet attack ceased, dropping Adrien into Marinette’s arms. “But I’ll think I’ll have to let you go, too.”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed, “What?”

“Bye-bye!” She waved with a pleased smile as the sheet around Gabriel disappeared just as Adrien’s had. Gabriel tumbled down the other side of the roof, out of view, and fell to the ground. Marinette could hear the thud from where they stood in the front lawn.

Adrien screamed out, “Father!” and sprinted through the shrubs towards the backyard.

Having finally exacted her twisted revenge, Fabriquant squealed with demented glee. “Not such a world-class designer, now, _hm_?” She leaned forward, peeking at his limp body in the lawn below and taunting, “Broken necks aren’t exactly in-style, you know?”

Marinette stared in shock. Was he dead?! But she had no time to think. She yo-yo-ed her way up to the roof in one grand swing, heart pumping with rage. “How could you?!” She shrieked.

Fabriquant spun around to look her in the eye and winked, “Darling, Ladybug! So glad to see you! Now that he’s out of the way, you’re next!” She raised her hand gracefully, wielding her magazine in the other, and whisked from it a dozen more couture soldiers. They stood at attention in formation before her, “Sorry, sweetheart, but there is an accessory of yours I just _have_ to have for my next collection! They’re to-die for!” The clothes charged forth, “Only it’s not me who’ll be dying for them!”

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi18_zps7ndltpsg.png.html)

Before they could attack, Marinette called for her lucky charm. A massive pair of gardening shears landed into her waiting palms.

Half the soldiers hopped down from the roof and descended into the backyard to take on Adrien.  
  
Marinette whipped around to see him tearing holes in them with a gardening tool. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to the task at hand, ripping each item of clothing to shreds with the shears, one after the other. Her fury pushed her harder than she’d gone before. One down, then two, then three, then all of them in mere seconds!

Just feet ahead, the Fabriquant scowled, her face twisting in irritation. This wasn’t as easy as she thought it’d be. She sent out another wave of designs and scampered to the edge of the roof, looking for an escape route. As she scanned the garden below, her pulse skipped a beat. The body was gone. “Where’s Gabriel?!” She yelled, to no one, it seemed.

Marinette’s attention shifted to Fabriquant as she finished off the second wave, and then to the garden. On the ground, Adrien was finishing off his own assailants, and just as Fabriquant has noticed, Gabriel was missing.

“Adrien! Your father, where has he gone?!”

He looked up, searched for any signs of where he might have disappeared to when Fabriquant suddenly buckled to her knees, crying out in agonized pain. Her hands tensed, fingers spreading wide and then clenching into fists, unable to still as she writhed. A glowing purple akuma mask appeared and hovered in front of her face. She mumbled something in reply to an unheard voice between her whimpers.

Marinette didn’t waste a single second. She tossed the shears behind her and tackled Fabriquant. They tumbled over the rooftop, landing dangerously close to the edge. Fabriquant seemed unfazed, caught up only in her pain and the mask above her.

Marinette restrained herself from lashing out in unnecessary violence and yanked the magazine out of her hold, yanking the pages out and tearing them all to pieces.

The blackened butterfly looked so harmless and benign as it flapped its wings and flew into the air. Marinette took her opportunity and captured the wicked thing, “I free you from evil!”

She released it and threw the shears into the sky and the billowing cloud of red silk vanished from it and revealed the stars it once hid. Her ladybug powers flitted around them, sending the cloth soldiers back to the void where they had come from. The butterfly flew in circles above her head.

The unakumatized Eve shot up from where she lay, holding her head in pain, “Migraine, agh!”

Marinette left her on the roof and leaped down to meet Adrien, “Where is your father, did you see-?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Gabriel stumbled out from a garage door, his usually perfectly coifed hair in disarray. Nathalie was at his side, helping him walk.

Adrien’s eyes went wide with shock. He jumped forward and clutched his father into a tight hug. “What happened, are you ok?”

Marinette’s mouth hung open. Had her powers brought him back to life?

Gabriel relaxed into the hug and held Adrien in his arms. “I just broke my arm, that’s all. I played dead and pulled myself into the garage when she wasn’t looking. But I’m fine now, Ladybug’s powers fixed it.” He waved both hands in the air to demonstrate, then caught himself. His soft expression hardened and he let go of Adrien, stepping out from touching distance and dusting himself off.

Marinette approached, “Mr. Agreste, are you alright?”

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, swallowing his words. Turning back to Adrien, he said, “Go to bed, Adrien. It’s late.”

“But, father!” Adrien protested. “Why-”

“Go inside, now.”

His head drooped and he begrudgingly followed Nathalie back inside the mansion.

Gabriel turned his attention to Ladybug and stared at her for a moment, breathing slowly.

The silence was unbearable. Marinette pursed her lips, waiting for him to speak. She finally broke, “So...um, are you- are you alright- what am I saying I already asked that.” His glare made her so nervous, “Um, I-”

“Thank you.”

“What?”

Gabriel’s gaze held no flicker of amiability, but his words sounded genuine, “Thank you for your help. And for keeping my son safe.”

Marinette was speechless. She caught herself gaping and shut her mouth, nodding at attention.

“I should go. It’s late. Good night, Ladybug.”

He shuffled back into his home, leaving Marinette just standing there. She might have stood there for a while, just collecting her thoughts if it hadn’t been for Eve, still on the roof.

The woman peered down, her face painted with confusion, “Ladybug!”

Marinette’s miraculous flashed. One minute. She scaled the wall of the mansion and helped Eve to her feet, then swung back down and left her on her way. Before the transformation could wear off, she leapt back onto the roof, out of view of anyone in the house or streets. She found cover behind the chimney, and dropped into a squat as her suit disappeared.

“Tikki...”

“Marinette, I thought we agreed you shouldn’t be doing this!

“Tikki.”

Tikki whipped back and forth, frenzied, “Mr. Agreste could have died- Adrien could have died! How could you bring him back into this, you said-- you were-- ugh-- I thought you understood! I thought you’d made your mind up!”

Marinette burst into tears, “Tikki, please!”

Tikki stilled, “Marinette?” She squeaked.

She buried her face in her hands and stifled her sobs. Tikki slowly floated to her face, “Marinette?”

“I just...I was so scared.” Marinette whispered, “I thought he was dead! What if he had been dead?!”

Tikki cuddled up next to Marinette warm cheek and gave her a peck, kissing the tears away. “That would never have happened. I wouldn’t let that happen- you wouldn’t let that happen. And you didn’t.”

Marinette chewed her lip, her face still a wreck, but her tears slowed. “It’s just… before, I never thought I was cut out for this, and then, you showed me what I could be and I thought… I just thought I was better than this. But then, with Adrien, I just can’t help myself.”

Tikki stroked her cheek and nodded, “Marinette, there is nothing wrong with you. Trust me, I’m a kwami, I know these things. You were chosen for a reason, this is just a little hurdle along the way.”

Tikki’s words were barely registered by Marinette. She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her head, “Adrien probably hates me now. Ladybug me, I mean.”

“He does not hate you. You’re the least hate-able person I know! And I’ve been around a long time so I’ve met quite a few hate-able people.”

“M. Agreste would apparently beg to differ.” Marinette huffed.

“He thanked you!” Tikki protested, “You made him understand!”

Marinette rolled her eyes, “Please, that was just a formality. You saw his face! He despises me!” Her voice lowered and she whimpered, “What did I ever do to him?” Tikki opened her mouth to speak but was cut off, “Actually, don’t answer that.”

“Okay, you and M. Agreste may have gotten off to a rocky start, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way! And none of that means Adrien hates you. If anything, he looked more upset that he had to leave you.”

“Yeah right, I bet he never wants to see my masked face again.” Marinette muttered between sniffles.

Sighing, Tikki pulled away from Marinette and met her eyes, “Do you want to find out?”

“What?”

Tikki slumped, “Look, I know I said you shouldn’t be interacting with him, but… if you want we can transform and go talk to him. If that would make you feel better?”

“But he’ll hate me!”

“You won’t know unless you try, Marinette.”

Marinette leaned back and groaned, “And what if you’re wrong?”

Tikki bopped her lightly on the nose, “and what if I’m not? We aren’t mind readers and we aren’t fortune tellers, Marinette, we shape our own destinies. If you think you and Adrien are meant to be together, you should go talk to him and find out what he thinks himself.”

Marinette unbent her legs and stretched them out, fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Her head bowed. “…Are you sure it’s okay?”

“I wouldn’t be offering if it wasn’t.”

Her tense shoulders dropped, “Okay, then. Let’s transform.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You have to feed me first. I’m hungry!” Tikki pointed to her itsy bitsy mouth.

Marinette giggled and wiped away the last of her tears. She pulled a cookie from out of her bag and handed it to Tikki who munched on it with dainty little bites.

“Alright. Tikki, transform me!”

Transformed, Marinette dove off the roof and swung down to the massive windowed walls of Adrien’s room, suspending herself from one of the spikes on the roof like a spider on a string.

Adrien was at his desk. Her gentle knock on the barred glass caught his attention. He smiled. “Ladybug! You came back!”

Marinette let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t hate her. “Yeah,” She said through the glass, “I wanted to say goodbye properly this time.”

He smirked, “Properly?”

“Well I abandoned you last time. I could never forgive myself if I did it again,” She laughed. For a moment, they just settled into a comfortable silence, their gleaming eyes enjoying the sight of each other. Then she continued, “…And also, I… I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Adrien’s brow raised. “For what?”

“For letting you get hurt. And your father, too. If he had actually… well, I could never even imagine. I’m sorry for putting you in danger like that, I never should have let you come with me.”

“Don’t be sorry, I loved all of it, it was exciting! And my father is fine- I’m fine. No worries. Besides, I’m used to that sort of thing.”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to be confused, “What?”

Adrien’s eyes went wide, his face reddened, “Oh um…” He stumbled over his words, “I just mean that, um, I just, well, you know, with fencing practice, or um, I don’t yeah, I just do a lot of that stuff when I swordfight.”

“Get strangled by a crazy fashion designer?”

“No I just- here, let me let you in,” He kept his gaze on the floor and opened one of the window panels, offering her a hand.

Marinette took it and slunk inside, landing on her toes, her yo-yo in the other hand. “Why thank you, good sir.”

He gave her a cheeky grin, still blushing a little, and bowed, “Anything for you, my- I mean, anything for you, Ladybug.” He realized he was still holding her hand, but neither of them let go. “Oh, right, did you even see where the akuma went?”

“What?”

“The akuma? Remember, we were supposed to follow it?”

“Oh,” Said Marinette, her smile faltering, “Actually I forgot about that. With all the commotion I didn’t even think to… _hm_. Now that I think about it, I’m not quite sure where it went. I remember it hovering overhead for a while, but I don’t think I ever saw it fly off in any direction. It just sort of… disappeared when I wasn’t paying attention.” Her gaze fell to his bedroom floor. She pulled her hand away and tapped her chin. “I guess that means,” She smiled again, “That you’ll just have to come with me next time and try again?”

“Only if you’ll have me.”

“Why, of course,” She lifted her hand into a fist and he bumped it, “Pound it!”

The excitement in their eyes faded. Adrien spoke, “Oh, and um, thank you, by the way. For not letting me, you know, die.”

“Marinette winked, and placed her hand on his shoulder “Anytime.” She was startled when her earrings blinked; Tikki warning her that her time was nearly up. “I should probably go, actually.”

Adrien didn’t look too pleased. “Right now?” he leaned forward, his hand catching her by the crook of her elbow.

She nodded solemnly, “But... you’re welcome to join me on patrol again if you’re feeling up to it.”

“I always will be,” He grinned, though it pained him to have to see her leave.

“Alright, um...” They stood in awkward silence for a moment.

“Goodbye?”

She nodded, “Goodbye,” And turned to leave.

Adrien watched her pull to window back open and stepped back in a slump.

“Wait, no, one more thing,” She spun back around, advancing on him, wrapped her hands around his neck and brought his face down to hers. 

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi19_zpsqqttzhrt.png.html)

Their lips met. Fire blazed in his chest. He pulled her closer as they kissed, hands clutching her waist while hers tangled in his hair. He thought everything and nothing all at the same time. His dreams could never compare to the real thing.

She sighed, willing herself to pull away with the little ounce of control she had left. Which was a feat all on its own. Her fingers still twirled in his hair. His hands still rested on her hips. Their gaze still locked.

Adrien flushed, his eyes fixed on hers.

She blushed right back, stuttering but grinning, “I-I’m sorry. Bye!”

Adrien was left standing, watching her in a daze as she escaped out the window. He kept his eyes on the night’s horizon until she was gone from sight, and stayed there even after that.

Plagg floated out of his pocket waving his tiny arms, “Earth to lover boy.”

Adrien smiled dreamily, ignoring his kwami, “ _What a night_.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D :D :D :D :D :D 
> 
> Here comes the draaaamaaa
> 
> Sorry it took so long. This chapter was meant to be part of the last one and the last one was meant to be part of chapter 3 but they kept ending up so long I had to split them. I think this one is the longest so far.


	6. Projecting the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some dreams finally come true. Luck is on everyone's side.

He accompanied her on patrol the next night.  
  
And the night after that.

And when he was too busy with his father’s work to assist her the third night, she paid him a visit through his bedroom window.

They sat side by side, shoulders touching, and hands clasped together, taking in the sights of the Paris skyline with their feet dangling out the open window panel. While Marinette familiarized herself with the spaces between his fingers, Adrien worried she might realize just how familiar they really were. He was perfectly accustomed to the feel of her hand in his, but with one layer of spandex removed, he felt so much closer. If only he could bring the amount of spandex between them down another layer.

He worried every day. Plagg certainly wasn’t helping. He’d grown much more impatient with Adrien, dropping his usually lethargic demeanor for a much more responsibility-oriented one. Though his laziness had plagued Adrien in the past, Plagg’s insistence that he return to being Chat Noir was actually starting to get on his nerves. Plagg persisted anyway. he just didn’t seem to understand. Ladybug didn’t love Chat Noir, so why couldn’t he just save Paris as Adrien instead? Same deal, right? Have his cake and eat it too. What the point of cake if you don’t eat it? What’s the point of being partners with Ladybug if she didn’t love him back?

That said, he did miss his time as Chat Noir. He missed the flirting, the puns, and the cheering crowds. Not that he didn't take every opportunity he could to do the first two as Adrien, but he knew he had to be careful. If she ever found out... well, it wasn’t something he liked to think about.

So he thought about Ladybug herself instead. More specifically, the mystery girl under the mask.

“It’s so beautiful, isn’t it? So inspiring?” Marinette sighed, staring out over the glittering buildings with a lofty smile on her face. “There isn’t another city in the world I would rather protect.”

He nodded, resting his head in the crook of her shoulder, and gazing up at her. He could say the same thing about her. She was his Paris.

She caught him ogling, “What?” She laughed.

He shook his head, lost in his thoughts, “Sorry. I was just-”

He didn’t have time to finish stuttering out his sentence before she kissed him. Their third kiss. The second had been the night before, before her transformation had run out. Just a brief peck before she ran off again. He closed his eyes and melted into it. Three kisses and each had been a blessing of its own.

She pulled away, “Don’t worry. Whatever it was I forgive you.” She blushed, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

“Don’t worry, I forgive you,” he echoed her words. “I forgive you plenty, actually,” He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her again. Her mask was so seamless and skin-tight, he couldn’t feel on his cheeks where it ended and skin started. Not that he was really paying much attention to that. It was the touch of her lips on his that he was relishing in. He knew they had kissed once before, back when they had fought Dislocoeur on Valentines day, but with mind control clouding the memory, it was too hazy. Plagg remembered it, though. Adrien had tried to get him to relay every detail of it, but Plagg was Plagg and he wasn’t too keen on describing it for him.

But this? Being able to, not only appreciate the moment of it, but replay each and every kiss in his head after the fact? It was indescribable. He could barely believe it was real. It had only been three days since their first real kiss, and yet he felt like he’d been with her for an eternity. The feeling of her lips was forever seared into his mind and each kiss since then had only made the imprint stronger. He’d have compared the memory to a scar, but scars were a violent thing. Ladybug was something gentler. Like sunshine in the spring. Only hotter. In all honesty, he wasn’t quite sure if their kisses were soft or passionate. It was some cross between the two. Either way, they quickly became his favorite pastime.

She deepened the kiss, leaning in and resting her hands on the wall behind him to steady herself. Adrien was pressed against the wall as she brought her dangling legs up to get a better footing. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips as his fingers clasped around her waist and tightened, pulling her in even closer. She was in heaven.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi20_zpstivotua1.png.html)

Tikki had lightened up on Marinette about the issue of Adrien. Though she clearly didn’t approve, she cared too much about Marinette to stop her. Besides, Adrien was all too willing, and it wasn’t like Tikki could lecture him about it, too. He had proven to be, at the very least, somewhat useful in battle, and he definitely wasn’t incompetent. In Chat Noir’s recent absence, he’d made a good replacement.

  
Adrien was the only one who could appreciate the irony, though.

Marinette rested herself on her elbows, moving her hands up to his head, clutching at his hair. She’d be content doing this all day.

Of course, she didn’t. They parted, though she stayed in her position leaning over him, their bodies less than an inch apart.

Adrien couldn’t help himself, “Who are you?” He blurted in a breathy whisper.

Marinette tilted her head, pulling away ever so slightly. “What?”

“It’s just... I don’t even know who you are.”

“Of course you do. I’m Ladybug.”

Adrien sighed, “Yes but... I feel so close to you, I just wish I could feel... closer?” He cursed himself for his lack of articulation.

She giggled, “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re pretty close right now,” She glanced down at their almost-touching bodies.

He breathed a short laugh, “I definitely noticed. But you know what I mean. Why can’t I know who you are? Don’t you trust me?”

Marinette wracked her brain for an explanation. She so desperately wanted to tell him, but Nino had said it himself, Adrien didn’t like Marinette. Not in the way she wanted him to, at least. If he knew who she really was, would he even be interested anymore? Marinette wasn’t as cool and exciting as Ladybug. Or even as confident, in some respects. The anonymity granted with her transformation was what gave her the courage to even pursue him. “I- of course I trust you, I just... it’s for safety, you know? I can’t have Hawkmoth or some other evil villain trying to use you against me or something.”

“You think I’d turn against you? I could never!”

Marinette separated and plopped into a criss-cross applesauce position beside him, her head drooping. “Look, I’m sure you believe that, and I don’t want to even think that it’s possible, but even Chat Noir has been...” She paused, biting her lip, “Look, it’s just too dangerous. If something happens to you, I could never forgive myself.”

All those times he’d been under an akuma’s control-- he’d forgotten about all that. Those were the sort of fuzzy memories he pushed to the back of his brain. They weren’t even really memories. They were more like dreams - the kind where you sometimes remember a glimpse of what happened, or a flash of colors, or a face. You know you dreamed something when you wake up; you’re sure of it, but you can’t quite place a finger on what exactly happened within the dream. Only in this scenario, they were nightmares; and they were real. The thought of him being used against the person he loved most in the world, his best friend, his partner isn crime; it broke him. And that it had happened more than once? He hated it. Thus, it was the sort of thing he tried not to think about. He added it to a list of things that included his father’s presence, and his mother’s lack thereof, and shuddered every time he was reminded of it. But he couldn’t help but get the creeping feeling that she just might possibly... resent him for it.

But he lied anyway, “I can take anything anyone throws at me. I would never tell anyone!”

“And what if you don’t like what you see? What if I detransform and you change your mind about-” She waved her hands around in a vague gesture, “-all this?”

“I’d like whoever was under the mask. She’s you, with it or without.”

Marinette groaned, “I know _you_ believe that, but I just can’t.” She rubbed at her temples.

“But why? What gave you a reason to think that?” Adrien didn’t understand. What was the difference whether she had a suit and a mask or not? Wasn’t it clear how much he adored her? He yearned to know so much, he didn’t even consider his own hypocrisy.

“I have my reasons, okay?”

He looked liked he was going to protest yet again. Marinette wished she could just shut him up with another kiss. She probably could have, but she figured it wasn’t the best time for it. Instead, she leaned her head against his shoulder and wrapped her hand around his. “Look, let’s just... keep it this way, if only for a little while while I figure some stuff out, alright?”

Adrien sighed, resigned, “Alright.”

Silence crept over them. They stared, once again, out over the twinkling lights glowing under the purple night sky, each lost in their own thoughts.

“ _Aaanyway_ ,” she changed the subject, “There hasn’t been an akuma attack in a few days now, not since Fabriquant. Hawkmoth is usually much more resilient about this.”

“Maybe he decided to take a vacation.” Adrien joked.

Marinette chuckled, “I wish. No, I just think the atmosphere seems so different. So much more tense, you know? He could attack at any moment, what is he waiting for?”

Adrien quietly suggested a darker possibility, one he knew the answer to, “Has he ever... actually _killed_ anyone before?”

“No.” She pursed her lips, “Sometimes the akuma victims try, not always, but they’ve never succeeded. Gabriel was probably the closest he’s ever come to a real casualty. And you, too, I guess.”

“That’s kind of a big deal, don’t you think? To actually...” He stilled for a moment, “...do that. I mean, he didn’t actually kill my father, but... it was close. He might be shaken up by it?”

She rolled her eyes, “Hawkmoth? No way! That guy is crazy evil. He manipulates people at their most vulnerable to do his dirty work and doesn’t care if other people get hurt in the process. If he ever gets the chance, I’m sure he’d take it.”

“Yeah, but he’s still only human.”

“All bad people are, ‘only human,’ doesn’t make them any better.” She squinted off into the distance, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still think positive. You can’t ever let negativity get the best of you. That’s the important thing.”

Adrien reached up and entwined his fingers with hers, “Then I guess I’ll just have to be the most positive person out there. Not that I could beat you.”

She laughed, squeezing his hand. “Partners in crime? More like partners in positivity,” She said facetiously and held up her hand in a fist.

He bumped it with a grin and winked  
  
Marinette wished she could just sit there with him forever.

 

* * *

 

Obviously, though, she couldn’t. The next day she waited patiently at the library for Adrien to show up, twiddling her thumbs anxiously. While the flutters in her stomach had seemed to have settled the night before, she still somehow fell victim to them without her mask. He might show up at any second. It send her mind in a frenzy

She checked her phone. He was already ten minutes late. Tikki drifted from her bag and rested her head on the table. “He’s probably busy, don’t worry about it.”

Marinette frowned and pulled up her messages. Nothing.

“Do you think he forgot?” she worried, “Do you think I stayed over there to late last night and he slept in? I can’t believe I’m basically sabotaging myself!”

Her distress was answered by the ding of her phone. It was Adrien! She immediately stopped stressing and read the text aloud, “Sorry I’m late. Photo-shoot took longer than expected.”

Her mouth twisted, “Okay, _and_? That’s it?”

 _Ding!_ Another text.

“I know that it’s last minute but do you think we could work at my house instead?”

Tikki swooped up to Marinette’s shoulder to read the text herself. “Ooh! An invitation to his home?” She raised a brow.

Marinette rolled her eyes, “It’s not like _that_. Besides, we both know I’ve been there before.”

“Yeah but he doesn’t.”

“He’s probably just tired from work. Can’t really blame him for not wanting to head down here.” Said Marinette. She gathered her things off the table and headed out of the library doors. The sun beamed down from a blue sky marbled with cotton candy clouds. Marinette spun and basked in its glow, “It’s getting so much warmer, I love it!”

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi22_zpsyroq3b1t.png.html)

The Agreste mansion was just a couple of blocks away. As she neared, she stared up at the tall, dark, gated entrance. It looked just as foreboding in the daylight as it did in the night. She hit the buzzer and Nathalie let her in, though it seemed begrudgingly so.

Adrien opened the door before she even got to it. “Hey!” he greeted. His eyes darted back and forth as if he were searching for something, “Here, come in, come in.” He ushered her in and frantically shut the door behind her. “I’m really sorry. My dad wasn’t too happy when he found out I’m supposed to be doing this project because it doesn’t really fit into my schedule but I didn’t want to let you down or make it so we fail or anything so yeah, he doesn’t really know you’re here and we need to work fast.” He rambled, placing a hand on her back to guide her upstairs.

Marinette jumped at his touch.

“Oh wait, I’m sorry, can I take your bag? Do you want food or anything? Or water?” His words tumbled out of his mouth like a stream from a babbling brook.

“No, no, don’t worry, I’m fine.” She clutched her bag to her side. No way was he taking Tikki away.

They rushed upstairs to his room. “I convinced Nathalie to let me skip fencing. She said she wouldn’t tell him you’re here, but she won’t cover for me if my father comes home early or anything so if he shows up you might have to hide.”

Marinette smiled uneasily, “Hide?”

“Yeah, he’s really intense… and strict… and he won’t be happy if he finds out I’m disobeying him.”

She knew that already, though, “You know, it’s not that big a deal if you don’t want to work on it today? We can just reschedule if it’s that bad, I don’t want to screw up your day.”

He flustered, “No, I really don’t want to be a burden. I want to do the project and be helpful. And if I don’t do my part, we could fail and then my father will just use that as an excuse to take me out of school and I can’t go back to being stuck here and--” His mouth clamped shut. He realized he was unloading a lot. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can just work with your schedule.” She took a deep breath, “Alright, so how much time do we have?”

He glanced to his phone, “Uh, about forty minutes I think, maybe fifty at most.”

She closed her eyes. _Not exactly a whole lot of time._ “Okay then, so we have to make the most of it,” She turned towards his desk and actually took a moment to properly look at the bedroom. At night, when his lights were off, she could never truly appreciate how enormous it truly was. The ceilings were even higher than they looked in the dark. There were red protrusions from the far wall, which Marinette assumed were meant to be some sort of climbing wall. Stairs led to a loft library. Even from down below she could tell the shelves were packed tight with hundreds of novels. His desk computer had not one, but _three_ monitors and in the corners of the room were a series of retro arcade games. She hated to admit it, but where his father obviously lacked in giving paternal attention, he clearly excelled at giving gifts. In that respect, at least, Adrien was definitely spoiled.

But she also knew that none of it mattered to him. He didn’t want a cool room or nice gifts. She tore her eyes away and stopped gaping, “Let’s get to work!”

They plopped onto the floor, sitting across from each other. Adrien pulled out an annotated copy of Hamlet while Marinette pulled out her sketchbook and binders.

“We can probably get at least one thing done in forty minutes, so what do you want to work on?”

Her opened sketchbook caught his eye, “How about we figure out the costume designs?”

Marinette nodded, “Alright.” She leaned over her sketchbook, furiously scribbling a figure.

Adrien sat idly watching her, feeling both useless and enamored with her drawing. Her focus razor sharp, Marinette’s mouth twisted in concentration and her tongue stuck out to the side. He felt odd just staring but her intensity about her work was just too enthralling for him to tear his eyes away.

She shot up a few seconds later. “Okay, Mr. Hamlet-expert, what time period does this take place during?”

Adrien startled, he’d been watching her so closely. “Uh, I believe it was early seventeenth century?”

She continued drawing, acknowledging his answer with a slight nod, “I have a job for you, then. Can you do some research on seventeenth century clothing? For like, kings and stuff. Hamlet was a king, right?”

“Sort of, yeah,” said Adrien as he pulled his laptop out of its case and started typing.

Marinette gave a noncommittal wave, “Eh, close enough. You find anything?”

His eyes scanned the search results. “There are some fancy dresses here, I guess.”

She perked up and set her work aside, curling up next to him on the floor. “Hm,” She pursed her lips, staring intently at the pictures. “At least they stopped it with the mutton sleeves.” She laughed. “I guess that was a fifteenth century thing.”

Adrien chuckled. He’d seen paintings of those dresses before. They were pretty bad.

“Fitted sleeves, lower neckline,” Marinette mumbled to herself, taking notes, “Most of the sleeves on these dresses end right below the elbow… and… very floofy skirts. Nice.”

Adrien felt like his presence was slowly edging on redundant. He bit his lip, figuring it best not to bother her while she was working, but blushed when she suddenly sat back up to look at him.

“I’m sorry, you’re probably super bored, aren’t you?” She didn’t want to pry and ask, especially not as plain-old-Marinette, but she knew she was only making him feel worthless. Her gaze dropped to the floor, she couldn’t meet his eyes. _I’m not trying to one-up him_ , she thought, _I’m not even one-upping him I’m just wasting our time with my stupid stuff._ She risked a glance at him. His face looked pathetic. _He’s so amazing he just doesn’t even realize it._ She took a deep breath, “Do you think you could, like, describe some stuff from Hamlet for me? Like, what it’s about? You’re the expert and I barely know anything about it. My costumes are going to be useless without the rest of the project, and it’s not like I can do any interpretation stuff with my brain.”

“Your brain?”

She glanced up to the high ceilings, “Yeah, I mean, I’m not exactly the smartest. You know I haven’t read most of the books this year.”

“What are you talking about? You do all sorts of cool stuff, and you’re pretty smart, too.”

She didn’t look convinced, “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“What do I know?” he shrugged, “I mean, it’s not like you’re the class president and a talented, prizewinning artist, and super resourceful and a good friend or anything.” He actually had to bite his tongue from listing more. How could she think so badly about herself? Couldn’t she see how amazing she was? He was beyond jealous.

Marinette hesitated to answer. He thought all those good things about her? Marinette her? Why? She was so plain and boring. So caught up in her own thoughts, she jumped as he touched her hand and met her eyes. No spandex separated them this time.

“Marinette, you’re awesome, okay? Don’t think that you aren’t.

She pulled her hand away, face turning pink, “Uh, thanks…” She shook her head to herself, he was treating her almost the same way he treated Ladybug. It freaked her out. “Um, but seriously, can you tell me about Hamlet, because I’m getting it mixed up with Macbeth.”

Adrien tore his eyes away. He hadn’t even realized he was staring again. “Oh…right, yeah. What do you want to know?”

Marinette hid her face in her sketchbook. “Stories like that are supposed to have a deeper meaning or something, right? Because I think I know the basic story, but I don’t really get it. I don’t know if that makes sense. Maybe if I’d had more time to read it or something-“

“Don’t worry, I think I know what you mean.” He opened his copy of Hamlet, “Okay, so you know about his dad being murdered and coming back as a ghost?”

“Yeah, and Hamlet is supposed to kill the new king to get revenge, right?”

“Exactly.”

“But why? What’s the point?” Marinette pressed on as she drew.

Adrien paused, “Well, his father’s ghost tells him he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who’s this really sly talker who, ‘poisons,’ people with his words the same way he literally poisoned the king.” He explained, “The ghost wants Hamlet to avenge him by killing the new king, but Hamlet goes kind of crazy. No one can tell if the ghost is real or if it’s all in his head and he starts acting out because of it.

“At first he can’t decide what to do or make up his mind, and when he thinks he has, he just ends up doing crazy stuff without fully thinking it through.

“Basically everyone dies. His mother accidentally drinks poison meant for him, he kills his love interest’s father by accident, the love interest drowns herself, and at the end he finally kills the new king before dying himself. The entire royal family dies, so they leave the kingdom to whoever travels there next, instead.”

Marinette grimaced, “Yikes. That’s so… dark.”

Adrien shrugged, “Most of Shakespeare’s stuff was either super lighthearted or super dark. Sometimes it was a little of both. I think that’s just how plays were written at the time.”

“Oh, I remember something about that!” Marinette brightened, “My mom said something about that when we were doing the English lit unit.” She tapped her chin, eyes drifting up to look at the ceiling, “Uh, what was it? Right! So, like, plays at the time were either tragedies or comedies. A comedy ends with a marriage and a tragedy ends with a death.”

“That sounds about right,” said Adrien, “Although I never understood why they call comedies, ‘comedies,’ when his tragedies were full of jokes, too and the comedies were always more absurd and silly rather than funny.”

“Maybe it was funny way back in the day? Maybe it’s an English thing?” She laughed, “I have no idea.”

He chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, it’s probably not that important to the project.”

“I still don’t know what the write about, though. Like, what sort of interpretation does she want?”  
Adrien settled his hand on her shoulder in reassurance, “It’ll come to you, I’m sure. Just think about the theme of the story, or what you think it is, at least. It’s an interpretation, so she’s just looking for what you think, not what someone tells you to think.”

His eyes were so green, Marinette tuned him out and lost herself in them. She shook herself back to reality. He trying to help. Listen. She thought. “Yeah, right, sure.” She replied. She had no idea what he’d just said. _I’ll figure it out later, I guess._

“If you need somewhere to start, you can skim through most of Hamlet’s lines. He’s really obsessed with his future and with death. It’s why it’s so difficult for him to make up his mind most of the time. You could pull something from that, at least to start off.”

She nodded, “Alright, sounds like a plan. I’ll probably work on that at home.”

He gave her one last pat and let go of her shoulder. “Do you want to finish up the designs, then? I think we still have enough time.”

Her reply went unheard as Adrien’s door suddenly burst open. Gabriel stood there, Nathalie behind him with an expression of distress plastered on her face.

Marinette guessed it was too late to hide, now.

Gabriel’s nostrils flared, his face a volcano of wrath, mere seconds from erupting.

Adrien jumped, eyes wide in shock, then froze to his spot, waiting with bated breath.

Gabriel finally spoke, “Adrien,” he seethed through gritted teeth, “Why aren’t you at fencing practice? You’re thirty minutes late.” He emphasized every syllable, spitting out the last _T._

“I-I-I--” Adrien stuttered.

“Well?!”

“We’re working on a school project,” Marinette blurted.

Gabriel turned his attention to her, like he hadn’t even noticed her there before. “Excuse me?”

“We’ve got an English project. It’s our final grade, it’s super important. We just wanted to get a jumpstart on it.” She winced out the last sentence as his glare bored into her. “It was my idea.”

He ground his teeth, “What kind of project?”

“It’s about, um, about Hamlet.” Marinette did her best to hold a straight expression, “We wanted to have the best project, so I’m going to make a bunch of period costumes. But I need to finish the designs today so we have time to make them. That’s why…” She faltered. “That’s why he’s not at practice.”

She glanced at Adrien in her periphery. His mouth hung open, jaw slack. Then she looked back to Gabriel. His volcano face was right about to start spitting fire. She braced herself for his retaliation.

But instead, he replied with a smile, “Alright, then.”

Beside her, Adrien tensed. “Wait, what?”

“Adrien why didn’t you just tell me you had to finish a project? If I’d known you were working so hard on something like this, I could have had Nathalie clear a spot in your schedule?” His voice was still stern, but softened just the slightest.

“I-I did! I told you I had to do a project.”

Gabriel bowed his head, “No, you told me you wanted a day off. There is a difference. You could have just said so, I don’t wish to impede your education.”

Adrien finally relaxed, gulping for the air he hadn’t even realized he wasn’t breathing.

Focusing his attention back on Marinette, Gabriel asked, “You’re designing something?”

She perked up, “Who? Me? Um, yes!” She squeaked.

“May I take a look?” Gabriel smiled.

Marinette’s face paled. Gabriel Agreste? Looking at _her_ designs? She could cry with joy.

Gabriel thumbed through her sketchbook while Marinette and Adrien stood in silence, glancing nervously at each other. He pursed his lips, but looked amused. “These are pretty good.” He said.

Marinette grinned, “Really?!”

He nodded, “Yes, I like what you’ve got here. And they’re very accurate to the period, I’m impressed. You were the one who won the hat contest back in September, right?”

She nodded back emphatically.

“You made some great design decisions on that. It sold rather well, I’ll have you know. Very popular on the runway.”

Though she held her tongue, inside she squealed with excitement.

Gabriel turn to Adrien, stilling flipping through the sketches, “And you’re helping?”

Adrien looked down, “Kind if, yeah. She’s the one doing most of the work.”

“Are you kidding?” Marinette chirped, “ _He’s_ the the one doing most of the work!” She said matter-of-factly, “And on top of that, he’s still taking time to help me with my parts of the project. He’s taking it really seriously.” She hoped her words were helping.

Still staring at the floor, Adrien blushed, “It’s really not _that_ much.” He muttered.

“Oh please!” Marinette said, “I wouldn’t be able to do this without you!”

Gabriel finished rifling and handed the sketchbook back to Marinette with a smile of amusement. As she took it from him, he placed his hand over hers and looked her in the eye with his piercing stare, “You’ve got some great starts here. I’ll definitely be putting a good word in for you when we start looking for interns this season.”

He towered over her, at least two heads taller, and yet, it wasn’t his size that was intimidating, but his presence. If her nerves around Adrien were as multitudinous as the pigeons in Paris, then her nerves around Gabriel were _all_ of the pigeons in the world. She grinned through it, “Thank you, sir!”

“My pleasure, ah.... Marinette, was it?” He held his hand out.

She shook it, “Yeah, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you.” He glanced at Adrien, “Next time, just tell me in advance, alright?”

“Yes, father.” Mumbled Adrien.

Gabriel left without another word. Adrien could have sworn he saw Nathalie look back at him with an apologetic look, but he couldn’t be sure.

Once the door closed, his shoulders finally settled from their rigid position. He exhaled and shut his eyes. That was close. His father was already angry enough about Fabriquant just a few nights ago. He couldn’t afford to poke the bear, or in this case, the father, and make it any worse.

Marinette, however, felt her fingers tingling. Maybe Gabriel hadn’t taken a liking to Ladybug, but he certainly didn’t have a problem with Marinette. Struck with inspiration, she wanted nothing more than to draw.

“Sorry about that,” said Adrien. “I didn’t think he’d be home so early.”

“No worries,” Marinette assured, “It’s not a problem.”

He finally lifted his head, the faintest of smiles on his face. “I guess not for you, huh? He really seemed to like you.”

She blushed. “You think?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve never seen him be so... _nice_ to a friend of mine before.”

“That’s flattering... I think. Was that supposed to be a compliment?” Marinette laughed.

Adrien laughed back, “I think so. Anyway, we should get back to work.”

“Right.”

They spent their last twenty minutes hunched over her sketchbook, Adrien providing what little aid he could in terms of the designs. Where he actually helped was in describing the story while she worked. Marinette had had no idea there was so much background, history, themes, and cultural significance behind one play. Much like how Hamlet was overwhelmed by indecision, she was overwhelmed by how much more there was to his story. Coming from Adrien, it sounded so fascinating. She honestly couldn’t tell if her intrigue was because the story was actually that good, or if it was thanks to Adrien telling it so well. In fact, she was so caught up in his words that she failed to notice the time until his alarm rang.

He startled, cutting off mid-sentence before realizing what it was. “Oh, right, I have to work on my Chinese homework, sorry. Let me help you clean up.”

They gathered her things and headed to the door. Marinette, for the second time in twenty four hours, felt that same pang of desire to stay there all day. “Thank you,” she said to Adrien as she stepped out of his room. “You’re explanations were so helpful, honestly.”

He smiled, “Thanks. I’m glad I could help. I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother while you were working.”

“Not at all!”

He was about to shut the door when he jumped, “Oh, wait, I forgot! I have something to give you.” He ducked back into his room and shuffled through his desk drawer. “Well, more like give _back_ to you.” He pulled out her lucky charm, the one she’d given to him before the gaming tournament.

“You still have that?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” He said, holding it out to her, “I accidentally kept it after our practice got cut short and I kept forgetting to give it back. I was lucky I remembered!”

Marinette leant against the door, but didn’t take the charm, “I guess it must have worked if it was lucky, huh?”

He chuckled, “I guess. I never really got the chance to use it though.”

She frowned, “Ever?”

“Nah. And I don’t want to keep it from you.” He stretched his arm out farther, willing her to take it.

But Marinette shook her head, “Why don’t you keep it? It can’t hurt to have a little luck on your side, right?”

“No, no, it’s yours. It’s important to you, isn’t it?”

She shrugged, “Sure, but that’s all the more reason to give it to someone who might need it a little more.” She pushed his arm away gently and closed his fingers around it with hers. “You’ve got so much on your plate. Honestly, lending you a little luck is the least I can do.” He still looked unsure as she nodded, “Go on. It’s all yours.”

Finally, Adrien conceded.

She dropped her hands behind her back, stroking where their skin had touched. “I better go. Good luck with your Chinese!” She waved goodbye and headed out the door, a smile wide on her face.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi23_zpsagwkr94i.png.html)

Adrien stared as she left, then wrapped the charm around his wrist like a bracelet. Maybe she was right, maybe it really was lucky.

Heck, they’d been lucky enough to end up as partners, right?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if that was super boring. Also, sorry that took three weeks. And sorry the pictures aren't great, either. Just, uh, sorry... In other news, I think this might be nearing the half-way point? I could be completely off but who knows?


	7. Cat Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Advice is given. And taken, to some extent.

Adrien asked her to hang out at the park.

 _Adrien_ asked _her_ to hang out at the park.

Adrien Agreste. Asked Marinette. To hang out. With him. At the park.

_Alone._

Without Nino and Alya.

And not for the project.

Presumably at least, on that last part.

But that didn’t matter. He had decided to spend what little free time he had that week with Marinette and that was all she cared about.

As she waited on the bench for him to arrive, she could practically feel the sparks buzzing between her fingers. Her heart pounded like the hum of a hummingbird. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t calm it. She’d gone so far as to have passionately made out with him and yet she still felt flutters around him without her mask on. Her stomach performed more impressively acrobatic feats than she was capable of doing as Ladybug.

Why did he want to hang out? The thought plagued her. Maybe Nino was just busy. Maybe it really was just about the project. Maybe he hated her and wanted to switch partners again. Maybe he liked her!

And the worst one: _Maybe he knew_.

She tapped her foot impatiently, she couldn’t wait. In her mind she thought through the exact conversation they’d had. Back during lunch, she, Alya, and Nino all sat together. When she’d gone to throw her trash away, he got up as well. Garbage cans don’t generally qualify as the most romantic spot, but in Marinette’s eyes, any place with Adrien by her side was romantic.

“They seem to be getting along well,” he’d said, head tipping towards Alya and Nino back at the table. The two of them chattered with excitement over something, Alya waving her hands in the air.

Marinette nodded and laughed, “Don’t tell Nino I said this… actually, don’t tell Alya, either, but I think she likes him.”

His eyes shot to the side, “Really? Did she say that?!”

She shrugged, “I don’t think she even knows it yet.”

“Ah, well, they’d be cute together, huh?”

Marinette shifted uncomfortably next to the trashcan. They had no reason to just stay there, it’s not like she was still throwing her stuff away. But she smiled, “Yeah, definitely.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to give them some space.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

He leaned against the can, turning away from their two friends and facing Marinette. “Hey, are you busy after school?”

Her eyes flashed up. Was that question what she thought it was? “No, why?” She breathed.

“I actually have some free time in my schedule for once. My dad cancelled some photo-shoot, I guess. Do you want to hang out?” he asked.

“Oh, u-uh, what did you have in mind?” She stuttered, thinking _Oh no, I’m turning back into a nervous wreck!_ She was Cinderella at the last stroke of midnight—or the pumpkin carriage at least.

He didn’t even seem to notice, “We could go to the park, it’s nice out.”

She grinned her anxiety-riddled grin, filled with both giddy elation and a desperate urge to run away screaming all at the same time. “Sounds like a plan!” She squeaked.

He smiled and headed back to the table. She followed after him in a rush, tugging Alya away from her conversation with Nino as soon as she reached the table and heading inside, straight for the bathrooms.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Alya pulled her shirt out of Marinette’s clutches and waved her arms. The charm on her phone swayed back and forth in her hands until she stopped, “What are you doing, girl? I was in the middle of a conversation!”

Marinette wasted no time. “I think Adrien just asked me out.”

Alya dropped her phone. And her jaw. The first clattered to the ground, filling the silent halls with a clacking noise. She then quickly picked both back up and composed herself. “A-are you sure?”

At first, she couldn’t understand Alya’s uncertainty. What was so unbelievable? Hadn’t Alya been rooting for them to get together this whole time?! Then she remembered. She hadn’t bothered to think about it ever since she’d started a relationship with Adrien as Ladybug, but Alya and Nino were to thank for that. Not that they knew, of course. If Marinette hadn’t overheard their conversation she never would have thought to do what she’d done. She wouldn’t even have known Adrien liked Ladybug!

Or that Adrien _didn’t_ like _her_.

She drooped. She wasn’t mad at Alya for trying to keep it from her. She was just trying to soften the blow. But there was a hint of betrayal in her eyes and she answered Alya with a grin and the most oblivious reply she could come up with, “Totally!”

_Okay, Marinette thought to herself an hour later as she waited on the park bench, Maybe he didn’t ask me because he liked me or Marinette me or whatever, but he still wanted to see me, so that’s something!_

She finally spotted him approaching.

He waved, “Hey, Marinette! How’s it going?”

She stood up and waved back, “Just as good as it was an hour ago.” She held out the box in her arms, offering him some macarons her parents had just baked. “Want one?”

He smiled sheepishly, trying to hide his excitement. Any food Marinette had to offer was guaranteed to be good food. “Thanks,” He grabbed a couple and nibbled at them.

They strolled down the far end of the park, locked in conversation.

Adrien enjoyed listening to her talk. Her voice was so nice and familiar. It was melodic, and didn’t grate on his ears the way Chloe’s did when he talked to her. And it wasn’t just her voice, but the _way_ she talked, as well; so animated and earnest, her face bright as the sunny sky. Between working with her on their project and the fact that Alya and Nino were spending more time together, which meant so were the two of them, his friendship with Marinette had developed into something good; the kind of thing that made him look forward to seeing her. A feeling he had only ever had for his mother, Nino, and of course, his lady.

Alya was great, too, and funny as all hell, but she was more friends with Nino that himself. And Adrien was fine with that. If it meant Nino was happy, then he was happy. Just as he was happy simply chatting with Marinette. He hated to admit it, but he figured if he weren’t so in love with Ladybug, then perhaps he might actually like Marinette? Nino had said she had a crush on him, and Adrien definitely liked her enough, at least as a friend.

But his mind was set on one girl, so he pushed the thought away. It wasn’t a matter of making a decision when he’d already made it a long time ago.

Of course, he realized, would any of it really matter if Ladybug ever found out? She’d be so upset. Adrien had been too scared to transform for more than a week, now, and he knew delaying the inevitable would only make it worse. He missed being Chat Noir, but how could he fix this? How could he explain his way out of his own mess?

 _You could ask Marinette_ , the thought occurred to him as if someone else had said it. He liked her enough. He trusted her enough. And on top of that, she had already given him good advice in the past. Perhaps she could help him.

“Marinette,” He started, “Have you ever… have you ever done something _really_ stupid—like, really stupid—and kind of selfish, and you got what you wanted in the end, but you lost something else and messed some other stuff up?”

She pursed her lips in thought, eyes drifting upwards to the trees, “I’m sure I have, but never enough that it’s been a big deal or anything.” She hesitated, but added, “I mean, I guess there is this... one thing. But so far it hasn’t been so much of a mess that its blown up in my face.” She could hardly count becoming Ladybug as being a mistake, and then there was her dating Adrien, which was a little selfish, yes, Tikki had even said so herself, but that was the opposite of a disaster.

His head bowed, shoulders falling, “Well I kind of have. Actually, I really have.” He sighed and stopped besides a tree, picking at the bark with restless fingers.

Marinette wondered what he was talking about. It wasn’t Ladybug, right? Was she his mistake? _Maybe it’s something about his father, instead_ , she thought.

“I... it’s just... ugh!” He huffed, stomping his foot like a child, “There’s this... person, who... I know... and... well, I know them really well, we’re quite close and we have been for... some time. I thought we got along really well but then... we got in a fight recently, and... this is so stupid, I’m sorry, I never should have brought it up.” Tears pricked at his eyes. _Why am I so worked up about this?!_ He asked himself, “You probably think this is dumb, don’t you?”

Marinette’s brow furrowed, “Not at all,” she said. “You can tell me, don’t worry. I won’t judge.”

He frowned, his focus fixed on the tree, and in his frustration, grabbed onto the branch above his head and hauled himself up in one fell swoop.

She stared at him with a incredulous look, “What on earth are you doing?!”

He laughed at her reaction and held out a hand down to her, “Care to join me, princess?” he asked with a grin. Simply acting like this made him long for a chance to don his mask, just once.

She opened her mouth to speak, but instead took his hand and pulled herself up with ease. Deja-vu hit her, not unlike a brick, as they sat from the low-hanging branch, her in the crook of the tree and him beside her. Just a few days ago, they’d done the same, sitting on the Eiffel tower with their legs dangling. She wondered if he felt the familiarity, too, and hoped he wouldn’t.

He didn’t. The poor boy, too oblivious for his own good, had other thoughts on his mind. He finally continued, “We got into a fight, this person and I...”

 _Is he talking about his father?_ Marinette thought to herself. “You don’t have to go into it if you’re uncomfortable talking about hi-- them.” She assured him. “Look, when I get into a fight with someone-- like one of my parents, for example-- I just talk to them. Tell them the truth, you know? I tell them why I was so angry or what upset me and we can usually come to some sort of peace.”

“But there are some... how do I put this? Er, there are some _extenuating circumstances_ involved in this... fight... that they don’t know about. And if I tell them, it will only make it worse.”

 _Definitely his father_. “But avoiding the issue will, too. Is it really that bad that you can’t tell them?”

“They won’t like that, this thing, this... side of me that they don’t know about.”

 _Obviously_ , Marinette thought, _He can’t tell his father about his relationship with Ladybug-- me-- I mean. He’s been sneaking out and breaking rules and I’ve been sneaking in, too. He’s supposed to be some sort of perfect golden child_. “How can you be so sure if you don’t ask?”

“Because,” He frowned, “I already know.”

“ _How_ though?”

He tensed, shifting his position in the tree and climbing a little higher. Marinette followed after him. He finally settled on a branch, Marinette took one just below him. “It’s... it’s just really complicated, okay?”

Marinette sighed and pulled herself up to face him, “Look, I know it’s probably not much help, but all the advice I can really give is for you to tell the truth. Be yourself, you know? Then just let things go back to the way they used to be. If this person cares about you as much as you care about them, and let’s be real, if they were willing to get in a fight with you, then they probably do, then that’s what they’d want.”

“To just go back to normal?”

“Yeah, just be yourself, you know? Don’t hide behind more lies.”

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi24444_zpshpwte58i.png.html)

He smiled, his grip on the tree loosening as he relaxed, “I think you’re right.”

Marinette never had the chance to answer as all of a sudden, a deafening bassline dropped and pulsed through the city. The noise shook up from the roots of the tree to the branches where they sat, knocking them from their perch.

Thinking quickly, Adrien dug his nails into a branch, catching himself; and caught Marinette by the wrist before she could fall. They hopped down from the tree without another word before the noise could get any worse.

Marinette tried to dash away, but instead, she felt Adrien’s arms wrap around her and pick her up off the ground, and she melted. “I have to get you somewhere safe!” He yelled over the bass and raging techno music, sprinting for her home.

He hoped Ladybug would show up soon. Now was the perfect chance to follow Marinette’s advice and solve his problems.

As he carried Marinette bridal style, she clung to him with all her might, shuddering as each wave of sound passed over. Her face pressed into his chest, and despite the pounding music, she could also hear his pounding heartbeat. She blushed, _What am I doing?! I need to transform!_

He reached her home and set her down gently. “Stay here, it’s not safe, alright?” He said, turning on his heel.

“Wait, where are you going?!” Marinette called after him.

“I’m going to go see what’s going on. Just stay here!”

Her eyes widened. Would he be safe without her there to protect him as Ladybug? She didn’t wait to find out. Instead of heading inside, she triggered her transformation. Tikki whipped out of her purse and into her miraculous. All spandex-ed up, she leapt and yo-yoed her way after Adrien.

Meanwhile, he raced around the block, ducking out of view of Marinette, and released Plagg out of his pocket. “Okay Plagg, you win. I’m ready to transform again.”

“Oh?” Plagg perked up, “You’re finally getting over yourself and listening to me?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “I’m listening to _Marinette_. Plagg, transform me!”

For the first time in weeks, Adrien relished in his transformation. It was like returning home after spending years away, except his home was black leather spandex.

Mask on and claws out, he scampered up the walls of the building and bounded towards the commotion.

And there was Ladybug, in all her spotted red glory, standing on the roof of a building across the street. She scanned the crossing below, eyes narrowed. At the centers of the crossroads, in the middle of a traffic jam made of cars with shattered windows stood a young man in a grey and crimson suit. At his hands, two vinyl discs hovered and twirled beneath his fingers. Notes visibly floated from them.

This close, the music was unbearable. Civilians ran from the audible chaos with their hands clapped over their ears.

Marinette looked up, her eyes caught Chat Noir’s.

_Crap._

Her lips hardened into a stone frown. _What is he doing here? After disappearing for so long?!_

Ignoring his trepidation, Adrien pounced across the rooftops to meet her. “Be yourself, be yourself,” He whispered under his breath, “Then everything can go back to normal.” He landed next to her, a cheeky smirk spreading across his masked face, “Good afternoon, my lady. _Claw-ng_ time, no see!”

She swatted him over the head and berated, “What the hell, Chat?! You disappeared again and you think you can just _pun_ your way out of this?! And that’s not even a good pun!”

He didn’t get the chance to answer as she jumped down from the roof and left him behind.

The akumatized gentleman focused on his DJ-ing, his face twisted in concentration. He almost didn’t notice Ladybug, or Chat Noir hopping down behind her.

Ladybug approached with caution. He looked up.

Marinette recognized him “XY?!”

His nostrils flared, “No!” The discs spun faster, a new cacophonous string of notes spewing from it at a great volume, “I’m Trebelmaker now!” He raised his hands up in front of him as if he were spinning tunes over a DJ’s table.

“What do you think you’re doing XY? You’re causing too much trouble!”

“It’s all in the name kiddo! Everyone is going to hear my music and everyone is going to love it! I will reclaim my spot as the number one top artist if it’s the last thing I do!” Lines of music twirled from the discs in tandem with the fluctuations in his voice. They spun and dipped around Ladybug and Chat Noir, single notes flying off of them every which way.

Chat found himself distracted by all the moving notes and symbols as they bounced and chimed past him. A whole note, a half note, a rest, a bass clef. They flitted back and forth in front of his eyes.

“Aw is the little kitty distracted?” Trebelmaker mused with a smug smile, “Guess he’s no use to you!” He pounded the discs with his hands and with a yell, a long string of continuous notes spat out at them, flying into the duo’s faces. Adrien clawed at them like a cat chasing a light, swatting with his baton in the other hand.

Marinette attempted to deflect them with her yo-yo, but singular notes were able to pass in between its spin and hit her. It didn’t help that her mind was elsewhere, either. Where had Adrien gone? On one hand, she hoped he was nowhere near the chaos, but on the other, she’d rather have him by her side than a particular cat right now. Another eighth note got her square on the nose. “Agh!” She flinched. Her skin and bone reverberated where the note had hit.

Neither of them could focus on anything. They were too busy failing to shield themselves they couldn’t even cover their ears, which felt ready to burst. And XY was in the middle of it, cackling to himself.

“I think I’m done here, I’m going to take your miraculouses and move on. How does that _sound_?!”

Marinette gritted her teeth. She really wasn’t in the mood for puns. Before he could make a move, she snatched Chat by the bell and dragged him down into an alleyway. They hopped up a dumpster, then a fire escape, and a window to the roof of the apartment buildings. She was out of breath and panting hard, rubbing her face and shoulders where the notes had gotten her while Chat Noir pawed at his aching ears. Below, Trebelmaker searched for them.

“We can’t hide up here forever,” Marinette frowned.

Adrien leaned in and grinned, “I wouldn’t mind as long as I were here with you.”

She pushed him away, “You really think now is the time for this?! Ugh, what is wrong with you?!”

He pouted, “What? I came back. Isn’t that what you wanted?!” He asked, “I just want things to go back to normal, don’t you?”

“You think that will magically fix everything?!” She screamed over Trebelmaker’s noise.

Adrien shrugged as though he didn’t care, but a lump formed in his throat, “I don’t know...I just thought...”

“Thought what?! that you could come back and pretend you never did anything wrong?!”

Tears pricked at his eyes, “I-”

“No!” Marinette seethed, “It doesn’t work that way! Whatever made you think it did was wrong!” Her arms crossed over her chest and she stomped away.

“My lady, please-” He whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder but she smacked it away. Her furious expression made him recoil.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi25_zpszvbeebao.png.html)

“Don’t, ‘my lady,’ me! You don’t get to call me that when you-!” She stopped yelling. A chill ran up her spine. “When did the music stop?”

A voice came from behind her, “When I decided you weren’t listening hard enough.” Trebelmaker stood in front of the roof on a string of floating notes. A soft beat hummed quietly over the stillness. “Trouble in paradise? Because if there wasn’t already, then the Trebelmaker is here to make sure there is!” He raised the discs and a tidal wave of sound crashed over them, knocking them back and over the opposite edge of the roof. Ladybug went over first, her yo-yo flying from her hand in an attempt to catch herself. Adrien managed to grab hold of the roof’s ledge and stop his fall, but the yo-yo missed. He just barely caught it in his own hand, but he could feel it slipping. The string pulled taught and Ladybug thunked into the side of the roof with a loud thud, unconscious.

“Ladybug!” Adrien cried. With all his might, he hurled the yo-yo up and swung her limp body onto the roof of the next building. He pulled himself up, and clasped his hands over his ears. His eyes bore into Trebelmaker’s, whose shimmered in fear. Adrien called out for Cataclysm and sailed forward. _It’s in the discs_ , he thought, _It’s in the discs, the discs_. He repeated it over and over in his head to the rhythm of Trebelmaker’s attacks. All that mattered right now was stopping him and helping Ladybug. He darted in between the notes, careful not to hit them with his attack, but couldn’t get close enough to touch the discs.

Meters away, Marinette stirred. She held her throbbing head, unable to discern whether the pounding, pulsing sound was XY, her imagination, or a terrible mix of the two. Through her blurred vision, she could almost make out the black leather-clad figure leaping across the roof next to her, dodging the shining notes that emerged from Trebelmaker’s weapon. What on earth had happened?

Her earrings blinked, but she didn’t remember using Lucky Charm. Tikki must have taken most of the hit for her. She didn’t have much time. She summoned her power, a small vacuum clattered clumsily to the concrete roof in front of her, and she dragged it towards the next roof, limping slightly. The gap between the buildings wasn’t very wide, but in her condition, she wasn’t sure she could make it. With a yelp of desperation, she spun and tossed the heavy vacuum, calling out to Chat, “Nothing can escape a vacuum, Chat! Not even sound!”

Chat’s heart soared at the sound of her voice, but she still wasn’t looking too good. He grabbed the nozzle of the vacuum with his free hand and flipped the on-switch with the toe of his boot. It roared to life, sucking the musical notes out of the air. The strings and chords of music whizzed out of Trebelmaker’s discs and into its waiting prison. With nothing left to attack him, Chat Noir pounced on Trebelmaker and destroyed the discs. The tainted black butterfly flew out of its shattered pieces and into the sky.

Marinette mustered what little strength she had left and caught it with her yo-yo, “I free you from evil!” She yelled, though it was more of a faint whimper, purifying the pest. “Bye-bye petite papillon,” she whispered, collapsing to the ground. The miraculous flashed. Four minutes left.

Adrien abandoned the deakumatized XY, jumping across the roof, and pulled his fallen lady into his lap. “My lady! Bugaboo! Please!” Tears flooded down his mask, “Ladybug?!”

She nodded, not quite conscious, but not entirely out, either, and he picked her up in his arms like a child. “You’re nearly out of time,” He whispered into her ear, not even sure if she could hear him, “Where do you want me to take you?”

Her lips parted to say something but nothing came out, eyelids fluttering, half-open.

“What?! Where do I take you? Please, I don’t know how to help!”

She mumbled something incoherent and pointed her arm down at the alleyway below.

Adrien was dismayed, “What?! I’m not leaving you there! It’s not safe!”

Three minutes.

“Y-you... I don’t want you to know,” She croaked, still pointing, “Please?”

He groaned, “But you’re hurt! I can’t just leave you in an alley.”

“B-but you c-can’t take me... anywhere e-else.”

Bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet, he peered over the edge. His own miraculous blinked as well. His mind raced.

Two minutes.

“Chat... p-please?” Ladybug murmured. She was crying, “I-I’m sorry I said...”

He put a finger to her lips. “Not to worry,” He assured, “Your wish is my command.” He hopped down to the narrow lane below and set her down as carefully, and begrudgingly, as he could. “I’ll call someone for help, alright?”

His words didn’t register before she dozed off into oblivion. The last thing she saw was his pleading face.

Adrien left at the very last minute. As he ran, he could hear her detransform behind him. It took everything in him not to turn around. His ring ticked like a watch. He couldn’t bear to leave her, but he didn’t want to upset her any more, either. He scampered down the block and ducked behind another building right as his transformation wore off. Without a word to Plagg, he whipped out his phone and dialed the emergency number.

“Hello? 1-1-2, what is your emergency?” A calm voice answered.

“There was an attack!” He panted, “M-my friend was hurt, she’s in an alley on her own!” He gave the lady on the other end of the phone the address of the building where he’d left Ladybug. “Please help her!” He cried.

“We’ll be right there, are you alright?”  
  
Adrien never heard the reply. He hung up the phone, his heart still racing, and finally acknowledged Plagg, “Should I go see if she’s okay?”

“You’ll find out who she really is. Would she want that?”

He looked at his shoes and slumped into the wall, “No,” He said, “I just... I need to know!”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Plagg assured, “The doctors will take care of her. Right now, you need to take care of me. My ears hurt.” He nudged his little cat ears, “And I’m hungry.”

He grit his teeth and sighed, pulling a piece of camembert from his bag and handing it to Plagg who vacuumed it up like a black hole.

“Your life would be so much less stressful if you loved cheese instead of Ladybug. Honestly.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead as he suddenly remembered, “Marinette!” He raced down the street back towards her home, Plagg tailing after him lazily, “I can’t believe I forgot! I hope she’s okay!”

He’d have run all the way to her home if he hadn’t noticed her parents passing by in a sprint in the opposite direction. “Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng!” He called after them.

They slowed, turning towards Adrien who rushed to catch up with them. Tom was panting, completely out of breath. Both wore terrified expressions, “Adrien? Are you alright?!” Sabine asked, her voice shrill.

“Yes, yes, but, have you seen Marinette? Is she okay? I dropped her off at home but I didn’t see—“  
  “She never came home. We just got a call from the hospital that she’s headed there right now.” Tom cried, his voice cracking.

“Oh my god, is she--?”

Sabine shook her head, “We don’t know, but…”

Tom nodded, “We need to go.”

They ran off, headed towards the hospital down the block, Adrien not far behind. He stayed at a far enough distance that he could talk to Plagg without being seen, “This is all my fault!” He wailed, “If I hadn’t been so caught up with fixing things with Ladybug I could have… I should have… and now she’s hurt and--! Ugh!” He clapped his hands to his face, wiping away the tiny tears beading up at the corner of his eyes.

Plagg frowned, dropping his idle smile to comfort Adrien, “It’s not your fault. You had a job to do. Sometimes people get a little hurt in the process.”

His words meant nothing. Adrien groaned, “Shouldn’t Ladybug’s powers fix stuff like this? I thought that they always did… do you think she’s alright, too? Maybe since she got hurt…? This is terrible! I’m so stupid!”

They crashed through the doors of the emergency room, Tom and Sabine’s heads whipping back and forth in search of their daughter’s familiar face. They approached the desk, faces contorted with fear, eyes scrunched in worry.

“Is there a Marinette Dupain-Cheng here? We just got a call she’s in an ambulance on her way here. Please, she’s our daughter!” Tom pounded the desk with his fists.

The lady behind the computer smiled calmly, “Sir, why don’t you sit down, I’ll see if she’s arrived yet.” The clack of her nails on the keyboard filled the air as Tom and Sabine stood firmly in place. Tom wrapped a massive arm around Sabine, pulling her into his chest and stroking her hair.

Adrien had no idea what to do. He wasn’t family and heck, this was probably his fault. He shifted uneasily behind Marinette’s anxious parents, trying to peer around Tom’s giant body as if he’d be able to find her, safe and sound, on the other side.

The woman scanned her computer screen and turned back to the couple, “Your daughter just arrived. She’s headed up here right now.”

Right as she said the words, the doors bust open behind them, Marinette being wheeled in on a gurney by a pair of employees. Tom and Sabine rushed to her, sticking themselves to the sides of the gurney like glue and firing off questions to the nurses and paramedics bustling at her side.

Adrien watched them leave, standing motionless in the waiting room as they rounded a corner. He was hopeless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhhh I mentioned this on my tumblr, but for the time being, I think I'm going to start posting chapters sans the illustrations, because the chapters are piling up but I have neither the time nor motivation to do the drawings. That isn't to say I'm never doing them again or that I won't add them in later or that I won't just forget I ever said this and keep doing them anyway, but yeah... for now I think I'm going to go without. That said, they definitely will be back. There is a large chunk of stuff near the final parts of the story that I had always planned to be illustration heavy, so they will return in some part, at the very least.
> 
> Anyyyyway, once again, thank you for all the nice comments, I'm so excited to share the rest of this story with you guys. Hope the chapter was angsty enough ;)
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> p.s. the marichat is coming ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	8. Knight Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya intrudes. Chat Noir takes a break on taking a break.

Adrien didn’t move. He couldn’t move. He stood idly by the desk, watching Marinette be wheeled away. In the commotion, he hadn’t even seen her or if she was okay. Why hadn’t he stayed with her at the park to make sure she was alright? He clenched his fists, nails digging so hard into his skin he drew blood, and picked his heavy feet off the floor and into the bathroom. Luckily, it was empty. He let Plagg out and started pacing in a frenzy. “It’s like _double_ the bad luck! If I hadn’t gone and bothered Ladybug, she never would have gotten distracted by me. And then she’d never have been hurt and Marinette wouldn’t have been hurt. Plagg, I’m useless, I’m just a deadweight! no matter who I am!” he threw his arms into the air, “What is even the point of me?! I can’t do anything right! Not as Adrien, not as Chat Noir!” He spun around and let himself fall against the wall. “I just screw up people’s lives. I’m useless” His voice faded to a whisper. “That’s why everyone just… leaves me behind.”

Plagg settled on his shoulder. His eyes, usually narrowed as though he were perpetually smiling, drooped as he pouted. “Adrien, no… I’m not going to leave you. And you aren’t useless, kid. Yikes, you have got to stop saying that! If it weren’t for you, who’d feed me cheese?”

Adrien dropped to the floor and buried his face into his knees.

“Okay, bad example. But you save people all the time. All sorts of people all over Paris. And you help Ladybug. Without you, she’d never get anything done.”

“Yeah right,” Adrien muttered, his voice bitter. “She’d be better off without me. She knows it. I know it.”

“Adrien stop!” Plagg ordered, voice sharp.

That got Adrien’s attention. He sighed, picking his face up to look at his kwami.

Plagg looked ready to throw down. “Stop saying these things! Not only are they wrong, it’s just bad for you. It’s unhealthy!” He lowered his voice, “The more you say it, the more you start to think it’s true… and if you believe it, then, it might actually become true.”

His breathing slowed, tears drying. “I--”

Plagg shushed him, “Not another word. Nope. Nada. Zilch! Now stop worrying about yourself and go see if your friend is alright.”

Adrien wiped away the last of his tears and nodded, picking himself off the dirty tiled floor. He headed down the hallway in the direction he’d seen Tom and Sabine go, peering into each room he passed until he found hers. The doctor wouldn’t let him in, but Sabine spotted him and stepped out of the room.

“Don’t worry, Adrien, she’s alright. Just a concussion. We don’t know how she got it, but they picked her up from somewhere in the city.” She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “She should be waking up soon. You can come in and talk to her then, if you want to.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze and fanned away her own tears and let an empty laugh, “Ha, I’m still crying even though I know she’s alright. Silly me.” She turned to head back in, “Oh, Adrien?”

“Yes, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?”

“Thank you, for caring about our daughter. She’s lucky to have a friend like you. Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind, do you think you could give Alya a call and let her know what’s happened? She keeps texting Marinette’s phone but I’m just feeling too dizzy to answer her right now.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Adrien sat himself on the bench outside her room, tapping his foot impatiently as he pulled out his phone and dialed Alya’s number.

He explained the situation to Alya, who was surprised to hear Adrien calling, and sat in silence, waiting for Marinette to wake back up. He wondered if Ladybug was in one of these rooms. _Detransformed_ Ladybug. Not much could be seen from the other hospital rooms from where he sat and he felt too tired to get up and look. She could be anyone, right? The question burned at the forefront of his mind. She could be _so close_.

Ten minutes passed. Then another ten. Then thirty. More and more time until he had been waiting well over an hour. Neither Tom nor Sabine had left the room since he’d arrived. He could just barely make them out behind the glass, hovering over Marinette’s unconscious body. She still wouldn’t wake.

It was just them in there. The doctors and nurses had slowly trickled out of the room, only stopping by to check on her every ten minutes or so. He didn’t understand why they couldn’t just let him in to see her, but they insisted only family visit her until she woke up.

He was pacing down a corridor in front of a vending machine when Tom finally strolled up behind him, “She’s awake.” He smiled. His voice sounded so quiet and broken, like he’d been crying for so long. “She’s fine, don’t worry. You can come in in a few minutes, her mother just wanted to speak to her.”

Adrien nodded without a word, his heart soaring at the news. He bought a candy bar from the machine and settled back on his spot on the bench, waiting for what felt like an eternity for Sabine to leave. He fumbled with the candy bar in his hands, twirling it like a miniature version of his baton until the door finally opened.

Sabine smiled, her face much cheerier than it had been an hour ago. His stomach flipped, from relief or nerves he couldn’t tell, as he stepped into Marinette’s hospital room.

Marinette tried to hide the hitch in her breath. _Oh my god_ , she thought. Her mom hadn’t lied. He really _had_ been here. She couldn’t believe it. After he had disappeared, it was her that he came back for? _Marinette_ her?

She hoped with all her heart that she didn’t look too disgusting, but her reflection on the glass door told her otherwise. In the ten minutes since she’d woken up, she’d had only one thought.

 _What the hell happened?_ She couldn’t remember a thing, and it frightened her that she couldn’t go looking for Tikki, who she assumed was hidden in her bag. The only thing she could recall was her screaming at Chat and what she figured was some loud obnoxious music, or… noise? She couldn’t quite tell, the memory was too hazy.

And there was one other thing that bothered her. She wasn’t sure if it was a memory or maybe just a knock-out induced dream, but she could have sworn she remembered Chat… crying?

She shook the thought out of her head and looked at Adrien. He wouldn’t meet her eyes, his head stayed bowed, hair matted and messy, fingers shaking, face plastered with worry.

 He held out his hand, a chocolate bar in it, “Hey,” he said, barely a whisper. “I figured you might be hungry. It’s not homemade cookies or anything, but… I figured it was something, at least.”

Marinette smiled, reaching up to take it and carefully peeling off the wrapper.

“So I take it you’re alright?” He asked, voice still soft and eyes still darting.

“I think.” She replied, breaking off a piece and offering it to him while munching on a bite herself. “They said I must have been hit in the head with something.”

“Do you… do you know what happened? I thought you’d be safe if you’d stayed at home, I’m so sorry--”

“Huh? No, that’s not your fault,” She laughed between bites, “I followed you, that’s why.” It was only a half-lie. “I was worried you would get hurt.”

He bit his lip, “And then you got hurt in the process?”

She giggled, “Clumsy me. Figures.”

“Why did you follow me?”

“Like I said, I was worried about you. You just ran off!” She stopped chewing and reached out with her hand to touch his chin, raising his head so she could finally look him in the eye.

His eyes shimmered. He was crying.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, suddenly dismayed.      

He wiped away his tears with one hand and took hers with the other, “I-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Marinette assured, “You did nothing wrong.”

He couldn’t believe her, but the words still helped anyway.

She placed her other hand over his shaking one and nodded, “Don’t be sorry. I mean, heck, I’m the one who took forever to wake up and kept you waiting here! I’m the one who should be sorry.”

He laughed, allowing himself to relax just the tiniest bit.

“You didn’t get the chance to take my advice while I was being Sleeping Ugly, did you?” She asked, changing the subject.

“What?”

“Did you, like, talk to your dad, at all?” She clapped her hands over her mouth, “Whoops, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean you dad- I mean- I didn’t think- I just--” _Abort! Abort!_

He realized what she meant. Had she seriously thought he’d been asking for advice about his father? “It’s fine. Um, yeah, I, uh, called him while I was waiting,” he lied.

“Any good news?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her eyes again, “Ah, no, not really, I think I just made everything worse, actually.”

“Really?! Aw, that stuff usually works when I do it. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, “I mean… they’re just that type of person, I guess.”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah, him, I mean. I tried acting like everything was the way it used to be instead of fighting and it just made her- _him_ angrier.” He leaned back into the chair he sat on, sinking into the cushions.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, “You just acted like everything was normal?”

“Yeah, isn’t that what you said to do?” He looked confused.

“No silly!” Marinette gave him a playful slap on the wrist. “That’s the goal, not the plan! You have to be honest and talk things out and apologize, _then_ things can go back to normal.”

Adrien couldn’t say anything but, “Oh,” as he realized his mistake. “I didn’t…”

Marinette gave him a pat, still laughing, “Don’t worry, man. Honest mistake. You were just thinking too far ahead. That’s a good thing, you’re being optimistic.”

He smiled, about to reply, just as Alya burst through the doors in a flurry.

“Mari! Are you okay?!” She carried her phone in one hand. From her arms hung a myriad of shopping bags filled with candy, food, water, and icepacks. With her free hand, she checked Marinette’s temperature and stroked her hair back, doting, “When did you wake up? I’ve been so worried! Are you feeling alright? Are you going to barf? I googled concussion side effects and it said you might barf. You should probably drink something,” She rambled, shoving water and food in Marinette’s face. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you aren’t, like, _dead_ of something!” She pulled Marinette into a hug.

Marinette laughed, “Alya, it’s just a concussion, I’m fine.”

Adrien stood up, “I, uh, better leave, then.”

She nodded. Alya hadn’t even acknowledged him. He smiled and waved goodbye heading out the door without another word.

Marinette pushed her friend off of her, “Alya, really, I’m fine,” she giggled.

Alya sighed, “I was so worried! When Adrien called- oh yeah, Adrien! He’s been waiting here for you for like an hour! Can you believe it? He called me when you got in and that was a while ago. He really is your prince charming, huh?”

Marinette grinned, “Yeah.”

            “If only he could have woken you with a kiss or something,” Alya mused with a wink.

Marinette rolled her eyes and swatted her away. “As if! I’m a sweaty, disgusting mess!”

“A sweaty, disgusting, damsel in distress,” Alya corrected her.

“Whatever. He’s gone now.”

“He was here waiting for you! It’s _truuuuue love!_ ” She sang.

They hung out together in the room, enjoying a pint of ice cream and chatting excitedly while Marinette’s parent’s checked out. Her injury wasn’t bad enough for her to stay overnight, but they gave her some pain medication and disinfecting bandages and told her she needed to lay off any physical exertion for a week or so. Marinette laughed at that suggestion, but that only made her father glare.

“You’re staying home all week! No going out for you! You’re too clumsy, if we let you go to school, you’ll probably trip down the stairs and knock yourself out again!”

Sabine agreed, “Yeah, it’s probably best if you just rest for a while.”

That wasn’t an issue with Marinette. No school? No problem. Alya promised to collect her assignments during the week, hugged her, and headed home.

 

 

* * *

 

 

In her own bed, a new set of bandages wrapped around her wounded head, Marinette nestled deeply under her covers and sighed in relief. Her parents finally left her alone to nap and closed the door shut. The second their footsteps had faded down the hall, Tikki crawled out of Marinette’s purse.

“Marinette!” She cried. Her usually red little body was a pale shade of greyish pink. She did not look well at all.

Marinette turned on her side. “Tikki! There you are! Are you alright?” She drew back, “Whoa, no you are not, what happened? Why are _you_ hurt too?”

“I took most of the damage for you. You hit those bricks pretty hard.”

“What bricks?”

“The wall of the building?” Tikki explained, “Don’t you remember?”

Marinette shook her head, “Not at all. I barely remember anything after Chat Noir showed up.”

Tikki’s brow shot up, “Nothing at all?”

She shrugged, “I think we were fighting, right?”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. The only reason it didn’t get worse was because the akuma... well, it’s just luck, I guess.” Tikki hovered back and forth, clearly dizzy.

“Then how did the akuma even get purified-? Whoa, whoa, you need to lie down. If I’m sitting here needing rest when it was _you_ who took the brunt of the damage, then you _definitely_ should be getting rest.”

Tikki cuddled up next to Marinette on her pillow, shaking, “You were able to wake up and use lucky charm and free it from evil, but you passed out after that.”

“And what happened to Chat?” Her eyes widened, “Wait, did he see-?”

Tikki shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. He wasn’t there when you detransformed and you had asked him to leave.”

“I did? How did I even end up in the hospital then without... him... what even happened? I’m so confused.” She buried her face into her pillow.

“Chat Noir must have called for help after he left you. No one would have known, I think your secret is safe.”

Marinette frowned, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I hate to say it, but you look terrible.”

“I’m not sure. I may need to... well, there is someone I might need to see, but you’re in no shape to take me to him, and I don’t think I can get there myself, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Marinette didn’t look so sure, “Hey, if there is anything I need to do, I will suck it up and do it, okay? I’m not going to let you get hurt. At least, not _more_ hurt.”

Tikki giggled, some pink returning to her cheeks. “No worries. But we both need some rest.”

She nodded, “Oh yes.” And together, they settled into the soft, welcoming pillows and closed their sleepy eyes, drifting into a dark, dreamless sleep.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette woke up feeling refreshed and renewed. And also in pain. Her head ached like mad. Her fatigue may have vanished, but her injury certainly hadn’t. She swallowed a couple of the prescribed pain meds and downed the glass of water by her bed. With a breath of relief and a good stretch, she pulled herself out of bed and wrapped a new set of bandages round her head.

Outside it was just getting dark, the sun balancing right on the horizon, casting the sky ablaze with a golden glow and fading into the dark purple night. The first star appeared high above, no clouds hovered to obscure it. Marinette smiled, admiring the Paris sunset; such a beautiful sight. “Tikki, are you feeling any better?” She asked without peeling her eyes from her window.

There was no answer.

“Tikki?”

Still nothing.

Marinette finally looked away, glancing to her bed, her empty pillow, and then all around the room. Tikki was no where in sight. “Tikki?!” She called, louder this time, “Tikki, where are you?!”

Eyes set with worry, Marinette ripped the covers off her bed, throwing pillows up to search underneath them and calling Tikki’s name. She tried her desk, finding nothing but piles of assignments and doodles and projects. Still no Tikki. The kwami wasn’t in her purse or her wardrobe either. Or anywhere on her shelves.

She’d completely vanished.

Marinette bit the skin on the inside of her cheek, running her hands through her newly-bandaged hair, muttering to herself. Where was her kwami?

Her hands shot to her ears, making sure her miraculous was still there. It was. Marinette wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. At least if they were missing too, she’d know that why Tikki was nowhere to be found.

Pressing her ear to the door, she listened for any sound of her parents. Hearing nothing, she shoved a pile of a pillows and clothes under her covers and adjusted them into a vaguely human shape. Finally, she finished off her water and downed another painkiller.

Outside on her balcony, she peered over the railing. She’d never climbed it without transforming first. Without her powers or her yo-yo, it just didn’t seem plausible. She took a deep breath and pulled herself over it, glancing down at the street below.

She was so high up.

Hugging the rails, she slowly lowered herself down, hoping no one could see her right now. One foot, one arm, the other foot, the other arm. It was like climbing down a ladder without the rungs. Marinette found herself in front of her parent’s window.

 _Crap_.

Their curtains were shut but she could hear their voices on the other side of the glass.

_Crap. Crap. Crap._

To make matters worse, a sudden wave of nausea swept over her. Before anything else could happen, she shifted herself down, one foot at a time, keeping a careful grip on the house at all times.

The ground still looked miles away once she had reached the window of the next story. Why hadn’t she just tried sneaking out through the front door like a normal teenager? She cursed herself for being a complete and total idiot and continued her climb down.

 _How the heck do I normally do this?_ She wondered to herself. Her miraculous must have been helping her to a greater extent than she’d ever realized.

Or she was just _that_ sick.

When she finally reached the glorious, glorious ground she felt the urge to kiss it. But she had other matters to attend to. Namely, her kwami.

Running down the street, disheveled, and her head wrapped up like a mummy’s, she was quite a sight. She hoped the blue and purple twilight would provide enough cover for her to pass by unnoticed as she tore down the road in search of Tikki.

“Tikki!” She called out in a whisper, “Tikki, where are you?”

Gnawing at her lip, Marinette’s eyes darted back and forth, peering around every street corner and building for that familiar flash of red.

The light above the Paris landscape slowly faded into a dark, starry night. Where on earth had her kwami disappeared to?

After twenty minutes of an eternity searching, her question remained unanswered, but her search had finally come to an end with a familiar squeal, “Marinette!”

Marinette seized in the direction of the sound, “Tikki?” It was getting too dark to see in the alley.

Tikki floated into view, “Marinette, what are you doing out of bed?! You’re sick!”

Marinette squeezed the tiny kwami into a massive, sweaty hug, “Tikki! I was so scared I’d lost you!”

“Lost me?!” Tikki squeaked from under Marinette’s grasp. “No, silly! I was just getting myself... fixed.”

“Fixed?” Marinette asked, “What? What are you talking about?”

“Kwamis need doctors sometimes, too, Marinette,” Tikki explained.

She looked confused, “Yes, but-?”

“Don’t fret about it, too much. It shouldn’t be a problem. I’d have let you take me to him yourself, but you weren't doing too well, so it just wasn’t safe. Although it looks like you made your way out of your room anyway.”

Marinette was incredulous, “Wha- what? I don’t understand, where did you go? I thought you were doing worse than me! What if you’d gotten more hurt?! You could have at least left a note or something!”

“I couldn’t risk something bad happening because I was sick,” Tikki said solemnly. “If something were to happen and the people needed Ladybug, I could never forgive myself.”

“It’s not worth your safety, Tikki!” Marinette countered, still clearly upset. “I don’t-- why? Why did you run off?” Who cares if another akuma attacks? I’m sure I could still handle it!”

“It’s not that, Marinette... it’s... look, forcing a transformation when a kwami or the user isn’t... in the right frame of mind, mentally or physically-- it’s not... it’s not a good thing, to put it lightly,”

“What on earth could possibly be so bad that you’d disappear like that?”

“Marinette... look, I don’t think this would ever be a problem for you and I, well I wasn’t planning on telling you, especially after you were a little freaked out about Mr. Agreste almost... I just didn’t know the best way to put this...”

“Put what, Tikki?”

“Well, sometimes, I know that _you’ve_ never had a problem using your powers and transforming, and until today, we’ve always fixed everything, but... there are... _ways_ that a transformation could go bad.”

Marinette’s head tilted to the side, “I don’t understand, what do you mean? I thought we didn’t have any problems.”

Tikki nodded, “And we won’t, because I got myself fixed and because we have a mutual partnership. But the thing is, Marinette, that isn’t what always happens. Sometimes, if someone... _bad_... gets ahold of a miraculous, they can force transformations with the kwami. As long as they have the miraculous they can control them. But there is a cost. Kwamis and miraculous are incredibly powerful, and are meant to be used to keep the world in balance. There is a fairness and justness to the way they work, a push and pull, checks and balances, if you will. And if someone were to use their miraculous for something that would upset that balance, it... well bad things happen.”

Marinette furrowed her brow, “What bad things? And what does this have to do with us?” She asked, “You said it yourself, we have a partnership. I’d never try to control you or use you for evil.”

“Well, there is another thing. There are other ways a transformation can be put out of whack or forced, similarly to how someone unworthy of a miraculous can force a transformation. If a kwami or the user are in bad health, mentally or physically, and shouldn’t be fighting, then it can have dangerous consequences.”

“Oh... is that why you-?”

“Yes,” said Tikki, a grave frown on her little red face, “Not only would transforming while we aren’t healthy or charged up be dangerous for ourselves, you risk letting other people get hurt as well, if something happens because you are hurt and you can’t save them.”

Marinette nodded, “Alright, I understand.”

“But, well, there is something else. The consequences, the bad things I was talking about. Marinette, forcing a transformation... it can drive a miraculous user mad.”

“Really?”

Tikki replied with a sobered and solemn expression, “Yes, and... it never ends well for them.”

Marinette pursed her lips, “You say that like you’ve seen it happen before.”

“I’ve been around for a very long time, Marinette.” Tikki sighed, “Sometimes, I think it’s been too long. But for everyone’s safety, for _your_ safety, I can’t let that happen. Never again.” She closed her eyes, her tiny face scrunched up, “I’m sorry if I worried you by running off. I know it was dangerous. I hope you’ll forgive me?” Her eyes opened wide to face Marinette’s.

“Of course, Tikki. We should head home, though, it’s getting really late, and I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Tikki finally smiled and whirled up out of Marinette’s hands to float beside her as they walked home.

“So...” Started Marinette, quietly at first, “If a miraculous is used for something evil or selfish, is that like what Hawkmoth is doing?”

Tikki flitted around her, “I think so. It’s not so much about whether it something a user does is, ‘good,’ or, ‘evil,’ and more about whether it upsets the karmic balance of the universe, which, yes, generally speaking falls in line with what we consider, ‘good.’ And whatever it is he has planned if he gets your miraculouses sounds pretty selfish, so, yes, I believe so.”

“Does that mean that he’ll... go crazy if we can’t stop him?”

“I- yes,” Tikki’s smile dropped again, “If he hasn’t started to already, that is.”

"I guess I should hold off on transforming until I’m fully healed then, right?” asked Marinette, tapping her head, “Don’t want to risk anything.”

Tikki shrugged, “Actually, you should probably be fine soon, so long as you don’t over exert yourself and get into any more accidents. Like I told you, I took the worst of the damage from that hit, so we weren’t able to, ‘miraculous ladybug,’ all the trouble caused by the akuma away because I was too hurt, but now I’m all fixed up, and you’re well-rested, I can feel you energy pulsing. I think you’ll be fine.”

Marinette looked unsure but Tikki smiled in reassurance, “Don’t worry, Marinette. I can always tell if you’re unfit to transform. I’ll let you know if it’s ever truly a bad time.”

Her lips twisted, still not quite convinced, but Marinette decided it better not to worry, “In that case,” she said, “I think I better go on patrol tonight. But first... there is someone I want to see.”

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien sat at his desk, scrolling through Alya’s blog for any news on his lady. Much to his chagrin, though, aside from an update about Trebelmaker, there wasn’t any news on her condition. It seemed Alya hadn’t even known about her injuries. At the very least, it meant Ladybug’s identity was safe, but it certainly didn’t reassure him about her physical well-being.

However, the tap on his window changed his mind. He turned to see her hanging outside the glass, a grin on her face as she waved to him. He opened the panel and let her in, words tumbling from his mouth like water from a waterfall, “Are you alright?! I couldn’t find you when the akuma attacked, and my friend got hurt so I got distracted and-”

She put a finger to his lips and shushed him, “Relax, I’m just fine. There was a little accident, a tiny head injury, but I’m mostly healed now... I think.”

"Are you sure? I was so-”

She quieted him a second time, “One hundred percent.” She stroked his cheek in assurance and started to say something, but now it was his turn to cut her off.

He wrapped his arms around her in a great big hug and pulled her close, burrowing his face into the crook of her neck.

It was a comfortable, familiar sensation. Marinette was reminded of Chat Noir’s hug after they had defeated Animan months ago. She hugged him back tighter. “I’m fine,” She promised, “Don’t worry about me.”

He finally relaxed, letting his shoulders settle with a deep exhale, “Thank goodness.” He whispered into her shoulder, pulling away to look at her face. She looked just fine, like she hadn’t taken any damage during the fight. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and looked her right in her startling, beautiful blue eyes, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He kissed her, softly, melting into her touch and letting his fingers roam across the surface of her mask, her neck, and through her hair before she finally pulled away.

Marinette rested her forehead against his. Their faces so close, she could feel his breath on her skin, “We should probably get going. The city won’t patrol itself.”

He drooped, “Actually, I...” His words faded, he knew what he needed to do. Facing her as Adrien was easy, but... it wasn’t the side of him that needed to talk to her right now. “I actually need to finish something... for my father. It’s really important, I’m sorry.”

She pouted, but understood. Maybe this time, he’d get it right with his father. She hoped he would, at least. “It’s alright. I’ll come by soon, though, okay?”

He grinned and kissed her on the forehead before wrapping her into another hug, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She hopped out the window and swung her way down the Paris streets towards the Eiffel tower. With Adrien’s absence on her mind, she wondered if her partner might turn up for the first time in weeks to keep her company instead.

Adrien sighed as she left, handing Plagg a slice of camembert cheese out of his bag. I guess I better go meet her then, right?” He frowned.

“At least let me digest-“

“Plagg, transform me!”

Plagg wailed as he was sucked into the ring. Adrien transformed into his catty alter-ego and with a reluctant smirk, hopped out his window after Ladybug and across the roofs of the Paris buildings to his and his lady’s usual meeting spot: the northwest end of the Champ de Mars, right underneath the Eiffel tower.

Marinette stood, tapping her foot in wait. She didn’t know why she was bothering, but at the back of her mind she desperately hoped he would show. Maybe the memory of their fight had disappeared, but she knew she needed to apologize. Her red spandex glowed underneath the light of the tower as she spotted Chat Noir coming towards her. “You’re late.”

He managed a cheeky signature grin of his and a meek wave, “I’m sorry, my lady, I’ve been a little tied up with some, uh… _purr-sonal_ business lately.”

Marinette held in the urge to giggle and maintained her stern disposition, rolling her eyes, “Don’t pun at me right now. I’m already mad at you, there’s no need to make it worse.”

 _Nice job, Marinette_ , she screamed at herself _, Great apology. One for the books._

Across from her, Adrien slumped. _Great_. He thought. _She still hates me._

"Come on, let’s go,” She leaped down the road toward the military academy and he followed like the sad little cat he was.

At the end of the street, they hopped up to the roof of a building above and sat down. “My lady, I-”

"No, Chat, I have something to say, first. I... um...” Her mouth twitched to the side, “ _Thank you_.”

He looked shocked, “What?”

"Thanks... for helping me... and for not, for doing what I asked, even though it was stupid. You saved me, even after what I’d said. It you hadn’t been there, well I’m sure you would have been able to call it a, ‘ _cat-astrophe_.’”

His ears perked up, “Did you just...?”

Marinette bit her lip to keep from smiling, “Just ignore what I just said. Please.”

He smirked, “As you wish, my lady.”

She sighed, “Look, I’m sorry for blowing up at you…I just…” She leaned back until she was lying on the roof, “I just need you, okay? I can’t do this job without you. We’re a team.”

“No, you don’t need to apologize,” said Adrien, “It was all my fault. I was being stupid and selfish, disappearing like that. I should have told you and then none of this crazy stuff would have happened.” He stared at his lap, fiddling with his tail. “I-I had some things I needed to do, that’s why I was gone. It was stupid, but, yeah... that’s why. I’m sorry.”

Marinette nodded, “It’s alright. I’m not mad anymore. I’ve thought about it all and it’s just better for me not to be upset about something so silly. You’re here now, and that’s what matters.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and offered a smile as he picked his head up and met her gaze. “I’m glad to have you back.”

He grinned back, “Glad to be back, my lady.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhh I don't have much to say about this chapter, I guess. But the next one is painfully long oh my goodness it's so long.


	9. Paw De Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ballet is attended. Some people dance.

Much like Adrien himself knew three reliable truths in his own life, Marinette knew three reliable truths about Adrien.

           1. The boy was perfect.

He was sweet, kind, friendly, worldly, and it certainly didn’t hurt that he was literally model-gorgeous. These facts Marinette dwelled on on a regular basis, and there wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t roll through the events of his second day of school (the first day wasn’t something she liked to think about, however) like a movie in her head. She had kept his umbrella in her backpack every day since. She never knew when a storm might hit.

           2. She was completely in love with him.

Completely. Totally. Hopelessly. Helplessly. Undeniably. One hundred percent in love. There was question or doubt about it. If she’d wanted off the ride, god forbid, it wasn’t an option. There was no choice. She was stuck like glue.

           3. Adrien Agreste, her perfect, angelic, vision of a dreamboat lover-boy was the most oblivious person she’d ever met.

Nino had said it before, but Marinette couldn’t truly appreciate the fact until she’d experienced it for herself. Her first encounter with Adrien’s complete denseness had been his inability to recognize her as Ladybug. Not that she was complaining, but it had certainly occurred to her that her mask didn’t exactly do much to hide the face of the girl who sat directly behind him in class all year. 

Despite having proven to be great in combat and intelligent in his studies, he somehow managed to be a total airhead when it came to the obvious. Marinette began to notice a pattern as they worked together through the week.

On Monday, they finalized all the costume designs and the roughest rough draft of their presentation. After one-and-a-half glorious hours working by his side, he finally realized he was late for his scheduled studies with Nathalie. Thankfully, she’d been too caught up with Mr. Agreste in a meeting to notice his tardiness.

On Wednesday, Marinette and Adrien continued work at the Agreste mansion and spent forty minutes gathering materials for the costumes. Some of Agreste’s interns had been sent to dote on them as they worked. Marinette was flattered. Adrien, however, spent the entire day blushing and denying any of their attempts to help him. He was sick of being babied. So sick, in fact, that he didn’t realize in their last twenty minutes, that he was late to fencing practice. Having left his phone in his room, he missed his alarm, and would have missed the entire class if it hadn’t been for Nathalie and the Gorilla storming in after having waited fifteen minutes in the car for him.

Finally, on Friday of that week, as the two of them worked vigorously for a full two hours in his room (much to Marinette’s delight), Adrien failed to realize he was once again late to a scheduled event. However, this time, it was not Nathalie that came to collect him, but his father.

At the door of his room stood Mr. Agreste, firm, and tall, and stern as ever, his usual thin-lipped frown plastered to his face as he spoke, “Adrien, are you ready for the performance? We were supposed to head out five minutes ago.”

They perked up, Marinette turning to Adrien, said, “Performance? Wait, you didn’t have some sort of fashion show today, did you?!”

Adrien’s eyes went wide as he shook his head no and addressed his father, “Performance? What performance?”   
“The Paris Opera Ballet?” Gabriel said impatiently, “Swan Lake? We’ve had the tickets for months now, Adrien, it’s on your schedule.”

Adrien brushed his fingers through his hair, blushing just the slightest in embarrassment, “Oh, I, uh, forgot about that,” he muttered. He’d been so caught up in his work.

“Well then, go get dressed, be quick about it.”

Adrien gave Marinette an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, I know I said I was free to work and all.”

Marinette sat up from her spot, waving her hands at him to stop stressing, “Don’t worry about it,” She assured, “I guess I’d better go, then.”

“Nonsense!” Said Gabriel from the door.

Marinette froze, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Was he angry at her? Did he blame her for Adrien’s lateness?

“You can come with us!” He finished.

She breathed, _thank goodness_ , she had no idea how to handle him if he were angry again. Her calmness dissipated quickly though, as she realized what he was offering. “Wait, what?!”

“You can come with us. I gave Nathalie the day off, so we have an extra ticket if you’d like to join us.” Gabriel explained.

Marinette was tense with shock. The Paris Opera Ballet? With, not only Adrien, but Gabriel Agreste, her fashion idol?! She held in the urge to pinch herself and make sure it wasn’t all a dream. “A-are you sure? Isn’t that kind of a fancy thing? I- I’m not dressed for it or anything and I don’t really own- I don’t have time I-I-”

She felt a warm, assuring hand at her shoulder and turned to see Adrien with a genuine smile on his face. The same smile he had that day in the rain. “You should come! It’ll be fun. I’m sure my father has something here you can change into.”

“I-It really isn’t a problem?” She stammered, looking back to his father.

“Not at all, it would be a pleasure to have you.” Gabriel smiled. It made both kids uncomfortable.

He left, telling them to be ready within five minutes, leaving Marinette’s heart abuzz. _I’m going to see the Paris Opera Ballet with Adrien. I’m going to see the Paris Opera Ballet with Adrien!_

Adrien gathered his things and opened his door for one of the manor’s staff. It was a middle-aged lady in a crisp suit and glasses, which she stared through with cold, uncaring eyes. Adrien explained the situation, prompting Marinette towards the woman with a smile. “I have to get ready, can you help her?”

The woman nodded and wordlessly took Marinette by the elbow and down the hall.

Dragged through a large bedroom Marinette had never seen before, she gawked at the many mannequins that decorated the chamber. Each one was adorned in a fantastic gown, swathed in silk or satin or tulle and embroidered with beads and lined with pearls and everything extravagant and beautiful. Her mouth watered.

The woman dug through the large wardrobe at the back of the room, sliding one design across the bar, then the next, and the next. As she searched for something appropriate in Marinette’s size, Marinette continued to admire every detail of her surroundings. Her eyes rested on the dress at the very center of the room, right at the foot of the massive canopied bed. It wasn’t so much of a dress as it was a glorified bodysuit with a tailing back. It was sleeveless turquoise, adorned in enormous feathers in teal and blue and yellow and green, spiraling in a pattern all the way down the long legs of the mannequin. Plumes curled from the top right of the bodice, lined with glittering azure gems. The back of the suit tailed out like a cape, stretched out over the length of the bed. It too was decorated in the same feathers, these ones larger. They spread like the tail of a peacock, so ornate and colorful. It reminded her of a bird’s wings. She wondered what the design was for.

Of course, her wonderment stopped as soon as the lady finally climbed out of the wardrobe, carrying on a hanger a simple blue dress for Marinette.

The lady guided her into the grand bathroom and left her a pair of matching shoes for her at the door, simple white with tiny heels and little sky-blue bows at the back.

She carefully pulled the dress over her body. The top was a form-fitting soft and silky cerulean blue with capped sleeves, each lined in faint white lace. Ivory buttons went down the back and ended at the bow of her spine in a large white ribbon, tied like a fancy Christmas gift at her waist. The skirt of the dress spilled from the bow and ended at her knees, fading into a darker blue, below which a layer of white frilly lace bounced underneath.

Turning to look in the mirror, she actually felt quite beautiful, standing there in an original Agreste design. She pulled the ties from her hair and let it fall and tickle her shoulders. If she’d known that morning that she’d be going to a fancy ballet performance with Adrien and his father, she’d have put more effort into her appearance. She huffed, it was too late now. After slipping on the heels, and combing through her hair with her fingers one last time, she headed out the bathroom door, where the staff lady was waiting patiently for her. The woman led her back down the hall, past Adrien’s room, and the down the stairs of the atrium where he and his father were waiting.

Adrien’s breath hitched as he caught sight of Marinette. She looked so adorable. He felt a twinge of guilt even thinking it about anyone other than Ladybug, but he couldn’t help it. She was beautiful.

His father smiled, “Ah, lovely. Shall we head out, then?”

Marinette nodded politely and hobbled down the stairs with as much care as she could manage. Why did she have to wear _heels_?! This could only spell disaster for someone as clumsy as her.

Outside, the car was waiting for them. She stilled as Adrien’s hand appeared at the small of her back and opened the door for her. Sitting inside, her mind whirred.

Adrien thanked his lucky stars his father opted to sit in the passenger seat with the Gorilla. Being stuck between him and Marinette for the entire drive would have been the most awkward car ride in history. But now it was just him and Marinette and for some inexplicable reason, the hum of his racing heartbeat.

“You look really pretty,” He whispered to Marinette, who only blushed in reply.

Marinette flushed bright red as the car lurched forward. She was a tomato wrapped in a blue sky. It looked about at poetic as it sounded. Which is to say, it didn’t. She opened her mouth to reply but it quickly dawned on her that something important was missing.

Again.

“Tikki!” She yelped.

Adrien’s brow raised. Gabriel peered back from his seat, his own brow furrowed. Only the driver seemed unphased.

“Tikki?” asked Adrien.

Marinette clapped her hands over her mouth, her face redder than ever. “My purse,” She mumbled, quietly kicking herself in the leg, “My purse, I uh… I named it?” She silently cursed herself; there was no scenario in which that was actually believable.

“You named your purse?” Adrien wasn’t sure if he was dismayed or amused.

“Um, yes, I just realized it was missing, I must have left it behind, can I go grab it?”

Adrien glanced to his father, afraid of whatever unamused look he’d find on his face, “I don’t really think we have time. You can grab on our way back, is that okay?”

“It has my cellphone! And uh… other things that I need in it! I have to call my parents and let them know I’ll be home late!” She pressed.

“You can borrow my phone?” Adrien’s hand drifted to his back pocket.

“No!” Marinette swatted his hand away, “I- I need mine, my parents… they’ll, uh,” Her eyes darted back and forth, wracking her brain for an excuse as more and more buildings passed by the moving car, carrying her even further away from Tikki, “They’ll get angry. They hate when I lose my phone, I’ll be grounded!”

“Settle down, how about I call them?” Gabriel calmly suggested.

Marinette’s eyes stressed her urgency, “No, no, I need my purse!”

“Look, Marinette, we’re almost here, please stop worrying--” Adrien didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence.

“Stop the car!” Marinette shrieked, her voice shrill, face red.

The chauffeur broke hard, sending all three of them hurling forward. Without a word, Marinette ducked out the door, her heels clacking as she raced down the sidewalk in the direction of the Agreste mansion. Before she could risk tripping and ruining Gabriel’s dress, she hurled the heels off her feet, carrying one in either hand as she tore down the road.

In her good luck, the car had only managed to get down the block, so she reached the mansion in just a few minutes. The car rolled up behind her, Adrien calling out, “Marinette, what are you doing?!” He said, thinking to himself, _Father is going to kill me. He’ll never let me see her again, he’ll just say she’s another bad influence._

Meanwhile, Marinette buzzed the door, to no avail.

Adrien tumbled out of the car, “No one is home,” he said with a slight laugh, but promptly dropped his smile, seeing his father exit the car in his periphery.

Gulping and avoiding any and all eye contact, he hit a few buttons and the gate opened. Marinette raced inside, grabbed her purse, shot Tikki a quick smile and a wink before snapping it shut, and leapt back out the door and into the car, sliding into her seat like a baseball player sliding into home base. She smiled, mentally wincing at everything that had just happened. _Great_ , she thought, _Now Mr. Agreste is going to hate Marinette me, too. And Adrien probably thinks I’m crazy._ “Sorry it was just really important.” She hoped her words could smooth over the awkward.

Adrien’s face was wrought with worry as he met her eye. He wished he could mentally talk to her and tell her to just run, but instead he settled for just frantically glancing back and forth between his father and her and waiting for his reaction with bated breath.

Gabriel turned in his seat to face Marinette, but the glare they expected was nowhere to be found. He seemed quite serene, actually. “Is there anything else you need before we leave this time?”

Gnawing at the inside of her cheek, Marinette looked down to her lap and shook her head, “No, I’m fine, sorry about that.”

“No worries,” Gabriel waved a hand, “I must commend your persistence and commitment to accessorizing,” He pointed to the bag, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips, and turned back around to sit in his seat.

The chauffer started the car, and for the second time in five minutes, they left the Agreste mansion.

Marinette stayed stiff in her seat, unable to move.

Adrien inched towards her and whispered, “I don’t know what just happened.” He was just as shocked as her.

“That’s not a normal thing for him?” She whispered back, not taking her eyes off the seat in front of her.

He shrugged, rather dramatically, his eyebrows raised, and Marinette giggled quietly, relaxing. She slipped the heels back on her feet, having noticed they were still gripped in her hands, and patted her purse at the side of her hip to assure Tikki as best she could.

The silent passengers arrived in front of the Palais Garnier and Gabriel led them inside, ushering them to their seats in a private box.

Marinette peered excitedly over the railing, grinning to Adrien, who remained unphased, having seen it all before. But he smiled back anyway, her own excitement stirred a vigor in him. Prompted by her joy, he couldn’t help but bask in wonder of the grand theater, as though he were seeing for the first time again. What he once viewed as ostentatious and needlessly stuffy, he now admired as grandiose and beautiful. His vicarious excitement faded as soon as it began when he caught his father’s stern eye.

He tapped Marinette on the hand and she settled into her seat as the lights dimmed and the show began. The ballerinas danced and hopped gracefully across the stage as they performed. Marinette watched with a gleam in her eye, sharing discrete glances with Adrien whenever she caught him staring at her. Which was often. It sent a giddy spark in her heart every time she noticed his gaze.

The first half neared a close. Both kids bounced out of their seats, antsy for the chance to move around during intermission. While Gabriel ducked out to take a call, Adrien grabbed Marinette’s hand and tugged her down the stairs to the lobby, “Come on, I’ll get you something to drink!”   
Adrien knew he should be happy to not only spend time with his father for once, but a friend who his father actually approved of as well. But the ubiquitous tension in the air whenever he felt his father’s presence was just too heavy for him. Even in a good mood, his father was still fearsome.  
  
As he ordered the two of them glasses of water from the bartender in the lobby, his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a message from his father.

 

_Had to leave early for a business emergency. Car will be here to pick you up at the end of the performance._

  
Of course. He couldn’t even feel surprised, the only thing to be surprised about was the fact that he hadn’t expected this from his father in the first place. His disappointment must have been painted clearly on his face to see, since Marinette rested a hand on his drooping shoulder and offered an inquisitive look, “Is everything alright?” She asked.

He shrugged, a twisted frown spreading across his face, “Yeah, my father just left for something business-related, that’s all.”

Marinette gave him a pat, “I’m sorry. Are you sure you’re okay?”

He swallowed his self-pity and smiled, “Yeah, at least now we can actually enjoy the show without him sort of… looming there.”

She laughed, “He is a little intimidating, I have to admit.” What an understatement.

The bartender gave them their water and they rushed back up the grand staircase to their seats, just in time for the next act to start.

As the lights dimmed, a single dancer in a white, feathered tutu stepped her way onto the stage, the spotlight fixed on her for her solo. But her moment was cut short by a barrage of black feathers that sped towards her and pinned her to the curtains at the back of the stage with their sharp ends.

The theater erupted in confused yelling and commotion. As another ballerina, this one decked out in black and downy feathers, danced on stage, a circle of feathers poised in a floating circle behind her. Adrien jumped over the railing of the balcony box and into the crowd below, out of sight of Marinette. He wouldn’t hesitate this time. No, this time, he wouldn’t let Marinette get hurt.

Or Ladybug.

He ran into the lobby, but was followed by the show’s attendees, who clamored out of the theater, screaming in a hurry. With nowhere to hide, he instead headed to the bathrooms and transformed in there.

Meanwhile, on stage, the akumatized Black Swan pirouetted her way in front of the performer, raising her arms into the air like wings, the hovering feathers lifting with them behind her, weapons standing at the ready. Marinette jumped from her seat and peered over the railing for the missing Adrien. In the ruckus, she couldn’t tell if he’d jumped or fallen. She leapt over and down into the now-empty theater seats.

Black Swan turned abruptly at the noise she made as she landed, her eyes narrowed into slits, “Excuse me?! Who is interrupting my momentous performance?!” She shrieked.

Marinette ducked beneath the seats and held her breath. The room was infinitely quieter without the orchestra blaring. She peeked above the seats to see if the ballerina had lost interest in the distraction, but instead, Black Swan had abandoned her fellow dancer, still pinned to the wall with the feathery darts, and was now searching the aisles for whoever had dared to disturb her. Before she could be spotted, Marinette crawled between the plushy seats into the next aisle. The only objective on her mind being able to find cover for a transformation. No way was she going to let another akuma ruin her time with Adrien.

Her cover was blown, unfortunately, by Chat Noir, who flipped into action from the lobby and landed on the seat right in front of her, a cheeky grin on his face. He held out a hand to her, revealing her location to Black Swan, “Need some help there, princess?”

She glared, declining his help, and before Black Swan could send an attack in their direction, tackled him to the ground as the black quills sailed over their heads like darts. They rolled down the large aisle at the center of the room, towards the stage. As they came to a stop, Chat scooped her up in his arms and on to her feet.

She stuck out her tongue, “I was _trying_ to be inconspicuous!”

He shrugged and smirked, “And I was trying to make an entrance,” he shot back with a wink. He grabbed her by the hand and led her up on stage , narrowly dodging another assail of feathers.

The ballerina screeched in anguish, “You’re ruining my dance!”

Marinette pulled the feathers pinning the poor dancer to the curtains while Chat blocked Black Swan’s attacks with his baton. The white swan dropped to the floor and escaped backstage, leaping over the plumed onslaught that Black Swan sent her way. Chat blocked Black Swan before she could follow her. “You might not want to tangle with me,” He flashed a grin, “You know what cats do to birds like you, right?”

She lashed out in a spin, the feathers twirling around her and then towards him and Marinette. Adrien leaped between her and the foray. He turned back to Marinette, “Sorry, princess, but do you think you can make it behind the curtain?” He asked, his head tipping towards the backstage area.

She nodded and jumped from behind him. Another gust of her weapons flew forward aimed right for Marinette. She soared over the first wave and ducked under the next, almost reaching cover behind the curtain when a single feather managed to catch her by the ribbon of her dress. Its force slammed her into the back wall and left her pinned and trapped at the waist.

Shaking the stars from her eyes, she had just enough time to duck before the next aerial attack could hit her square in the face. The dress tore as she ripped the ribbon off and dropped to the ground. The stitching on her side had torn, most of the seams had completely split leaving a sliver of her stomach exposed. Marinette prayed Mr. Agreste wouldn’t be too cross about his design.

Adrien seethed. It had only taken seconds and she was already in danger. Again. He jumped in between them while Marinette collected herself and then pounced into the air, plunging down on top of the akuma to land a strike with his baton. With the ballerina pinned to the ground beneath him, he smirked, “Not so _en pointe_ now, eh?”

The dancer glared, black coal eyes gleaming from behind her mask, and kicked her leg up into the air, pushing him off of her. “I’m afraid your two left feet can’t help you here.” She smiled, bowing daintily, her feathers rustling behind her, poised to strike.

Unbeknownst to her, though, Marinette snuck up behind her and delivered her own kick in the back, sending the akuma back on her knees. The movement finally tore Marinette’s dress in half. She sighed. None of this was going as planned.

Adrien gaped, “What are you doing?! Go hide! It’s not safe!”

Marinette raised a brow, “You don’t appreciate my help?” She secured the dancer back to the ground, sitting on her legs before she could get back up. Adrien dove to action, swooping in and barring her arms down with his weapon.

“You’re going to get hurt,” He said through gritted teeth, “I can handle this.”

She shrugged, looking smug “Looks like my help was needed.” Her victory was short-lived. Black Swan’s arc of feather-knives lifted into the air above them and stormed down all at once.

Chat Noir sprang forward, pushing Marinette off the akuma and to the floor, out of range of the weapons. They tumbled around until he landed on top of her. He wouldn’t admit it to himself but he couldn’t help but hesitate and look at her before leaping back into action.

“Very helpful,” He said with a sarcastic eye-roll and he turned back to face Black Swan and shield Marinette with his body before she could pull another attack.

Marinette wanted to shoot back with another retort, but she realized she needed to transform. Maneuvering in the now-ruined dress was becoming a bit of a chore. Taking Chat’s advice, she ducked down and somersaulted backstage and out of the way while he took her on.

“Tikki!” Marinette opened her purse, “Good thing I went back for the bag, huh?”

Tikki giggled, “Say the words.”

“Tikki, transform me!” Marinette cried and the red glow spiraled up and around her. Her arms, outstretched as her second skin of red spandex appeared on them, raised above her head and she jumped forward into a flip and landed back onstage. “You didn’t think you could go fighting without me, did you?” She grinned as she watched Chat Noir, engaged in battle with Black Swan.

He didn’t even turn to look at her, “Marinette, I told you to get out of here!” he grunted, spinning in mid-air as he took a hit from the akuma. _Why can’t she just stay out of the way? She’ll only get hurt again!_

Marinette froze, for a split-second not even knowing what to say as a million thoughts crossed her mind at once.

Chat skidded across the stage, falling on his back, looking up at the girl standing right above him. “Oh, Ladybug.” He smiled, “Sorry I thought you were someone else.” He flashed his teeth and then shot back up.

Marinette unfroze. She realized she was gaping. He’d met her civilian identity before. They knew each other to some extent, at least from his perspective. But he’d never confused the two of them before. Or realized that they weren’t two to begin with, but one and the same. Had hearing only her voice made him make the connection?

He, of course, seemed completely oblivious to her shock as he fought the akumatized lady. He’d mistaken Ladybug for Marinette, so what? She’d been standing there just a second ago. It was an honest mistake.

And perhaps they had similar voices?

Marinette shook her cluttered thoughts from her brain. Now was not the time to worry about a silly misunderstanding.

But still, it hung at the back of her mind. Whether he realized it or not, his brain had made some sort of connection.

Her yo-yo flew into the air, blocking Black Swan from landing another one of her sharp feather attacks on her partner. Finally with an opening in sight, Adrien was able to get a hit in, striking Black Swan in the side with his baton. She twisted, bending forward, but turned it into a bow and twirled back up, raising her leg into the air and returning the hit with her own kick.

Adrien slipped out of the way just in time, leaving a space for Marinette to jump in between them and force her back. Marinette eyed the dancer’s shoes she tip-toed backwards, swaying out of balance.

“Try the shoes!” She yelled to Chat Noir, back flipping out of the way of a collision with the ballerina’s slippers.  
  
Adrien advanced on her, raising the baton into the air in one hand as he raked his claws out in the other. She spun out of the way, her feet well out of reach, but he caught the feathers of her skirt and managed to tear a few out of their stitching.

Marinette slid in while Black Swan was distracted by Chat and kicked the villain’s legs out from under her. She yanked one of the shoes off before the dancer pulled back and out of the way. Without her other shoe, she stumbled off the edge of the stage.

Marinette ripped the ribbons apart from the slipper, but no akuma came out. She pursed her lips and paused for a moment, “I guess it’s in the other shoe?”

Chat shrugged, then dropped on all fours and jumped for Black Swan on the floor. She stepped out of the way, but fell back down to her knees, off-balance without her other shoe. He tried again, but her nimble dancer body, however disabled without her footwear, was able to swing out of the way of each of his attacks.

While she wore him out, Marinette summoned Lucky Charm. She didn’t want to stretch this out longer than it needed to go.

Without her proper dancing skills to defend herself, Black Swan hid behind her feathers. They floated in front of her in an arc as she directed them with her graceful arms, sending one after the other towards Chat Noir in all directions.

A large spotted tote bag fell into Marinette’s arms. What the hell was that supposed to do? She didn’t have much time to contemplate it as one of the feathers sailed mere inches from her face and lodged itself in the wall of the stage. She ducked down as another wave slammed towards her. Chat jumped in front of her and tackled her to the ground. Twice in one go? She wanted to groan, when would the boy just stop tackling her?

Adrien ignored the rush of deja-vu he felt as he and Ladybug rolled over the stage floor. He winked and hopped back up, lunging for the dancer. Marinette snatched the tote-bag off the floor from where she’d dropped it. Eyeing it, she pieced together the parts of a plan and ran into the skirmish of feathers and leather.

While Chat drew Black Swan’s fire, Marinette darted between the attacks, waving the tote-bag in the air to collect each of the feathers. Her actions went completely unnoticed by Black Swan until her feathers dwindled down to nothing and Marinette finally had the full set of them. She zipped the bag up tight.

“What an interesting _turnout_!” Chat slid up next to Ladybug, standing confidently with one arm resting on her shoulder and the other twirling his tail.

Marinette rolled her eyes and shrugged him off her, strolling forward to lean down and look Black Swan in the eye. “It’s over,” She held up the bag and let it hang from the tips of herfingers as if to taunt her just the slightest, and slipped the other shoe off the girl’s foot.

But once again, after tearing the ribbon off, there was no butterfly waiting to be released. Marinette scowled. “What?!”

“How about you try again.” Said Black Swan from her spot on the floor, her tone smug. She winked, slipped back, out of reach of the two heroes, and sprang to her feet. Without her shoes, her steps weren’t nearly as graceful. Her movements seemed jumpy and wrong, but she danced anyway. Marinette cringed at the girl’s toes, curled up underneath her and carrying all her weight without the help of her shoes. It just looked wrong.

But Black Swan was determined to stop them. Or maybe Hawkmoth in control of her was. Either way, she twirled and cast her arms out into the air dramatically. With them, the sharp feathers ripped out of the bag in Marinette’s hand, tearing it to shreds. One caught her on the arm, scuffing through the suit and leaving a scratch mark on her skin.

Marinette glared, eyes narrowed through her mask as she switched her view from her torn bag, her arm, and then the ballerina. She grit her teeth and flew forward. She wasn’t normally one to go on the attack, after all, her yo-yo served more as a defensive shield than a weapon, but she was beyond furious. She hated being undermined. Ladybug gave her a sense of confidence and she wasn’t here for being duped like that. Not to mention the fact that she could have been spending this time with Adrien, wherever it was that he’d run off to.

It didn’t last long before Chat grabbed her by the arm, mid-air, and she collapsed to the ground, “Calm down, my lady!”

She yanked her arm out of his grasp, seething, then whipped her head back in the direction of Black Swan. But she was already on her way out, dancing on her knobbed toes out the door with a cackle.

“You’re not getting away!” Marinette screamed, hopping back up to her feet.

Chat caught her a second time, “Stop!”

“What are you doing?!” Marinette huffed, “She’s getting away!”

Chat’s usual grin had vanished. In its place was priority-minded frown, “We can go after her in a moment. You’re hurt.” He said, pointing to her arm, then her earrings, “And you’re about to run out of time. We don’t want another incident like last time.”

Her mouth hardened into a frown of her own, “Whatever, I’ll, just… You go after her, I’ll be back in a second.”

“Are you sure? Is your arm alright?”

She shrugged, “That’s not important, you need to go after her and stop her.”

Adrien stared up at the ceiling and sighed, “If you ask me it’s pretty _impurrtant_ -“

“Stop.”

He quieted, mouth pressed into thin line, and looked down at the floor with a sigh, “Be careful.” He said and without another word, scampered after the dancer.

Marinette let out the breath she was holding the moment his footsteps faded, and threw a scrap of the purse into the air. Her ladybug magic swirled all around the theatre, restoring the ripped curtains and damaged stage, and finally her suit.

Tikki flew out in a blur as the transformation ran out, “Marinette, are you alright?!”

Marinette laughed, “I’m fine Tikki, it was just a scratch!” She lifted her arm up to show her, “See, it’s all gone, now!” She adjusted her dress, now fully-repaired and bow attached and sifted through her purse for a snack.

Only to find nothing. She pursed her lips, “Let’s hurry, Tikki, I feel bad leaving Chat all alone like that for so long.”

Tikki nodded and zipped into the purse and Marinette made a run for it, heading towards the bakery down the block.

She crashed through the door, face flustered and red, wondering if her powers would remove the sweat stains seeping into the dress the next time she transformed.

Her parents perked up, “Marinette?” Her father said, “Is the show already over? That was shorter than I thought.”  
  
Flustered, Marinette slid behind the bakery counter and yanked a few cookies from the counter, to her parent’s dismay. Her father frowned, “Young lady, what do you think you’re-“  
  
“No time to talk!” Marinette yelled over her shoulder, sliding back over the counter and out the door, and stuffing the cookies into her bag to the waiting Tikki. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for any signs of chaos. In the distance, the sound of faint screaming alerted her to exactly what she was searching for. She started in that direction, racing down the concrete sidewalk, nearly out of breath. “Tikki, hurry up.”

Tikki peeked out from the bag, in between nibbles of her cookie, “I’m trying.” She whined.

They hit a roadblock as hundreds of citizens and confused tourists clamored through the streets in the opposite direction. In the sky above, familiar feathers swirled and spiraled through the air. Below them, Black Swan’s lithe and limber body dodged in allegro after allegro from Chat Noir’s attacks with a grotesque elegance. The bones of her bare, grazed toes crunched with each step.

Chat caught her eye in the midst of the battle and gaped, nearly taking a hit himself due to his inattentiveness. “What are you doing?!” he called to her over the sound of destruction.

The feathers sailed down in a circle like the deadly razor blade of a saw, Marinette ducked out of the way. This time, the dress went unharmed. She hoped to keep it that way.

Chat Noir caught them with his baton and swatted them out of the way, yelping, “Get away from here!”

She twisted her mouth to side, irritated, and looked down to Tikki in her bag while Chat went back to fighting. “Tikki, come on.”

Tikki gulped down final bite of the cookie and gave Marinette the okay. Marinette slipped back behind a nearby building, ready to transform, when the feathers flew right past her cheek, so fast it was nearly imperceptible and so close it nearly tickled her cheek. But it scratched it instead. A drop of blood slid down her face from the wound and onto the dress. Marinette groaned, but didn’t have any time to lament over the ruined ensemble as Black Swan danced her way over to her.

“I see you’ve returned! You weren’t trying to leave again before my performance, were you?” Her unnerving smile grew wider. She tip-toed forward and bowed into an arabesque, “Because if that’s the case, I may just have to _barre_ you from leaving.”  
  
“I’m the one with a bar!” Chat shot up behind her, wielding his baton. Black Swan swung out of the way, and twirled back up, leg raised behind her. She went unscathed, at least there was some distance between her and Marinette. “Are you okay?!” He asked her, once again shielding her with his own body and spinning the staff into a shield in front of them.

Marinette nodded and wiped the blood of her cheek, internally screaming. Great, she thought, _Now how am I supposed to transform?!_ She jumped, startled, when Chat wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. “What are you doing?”

“I told you, it’s not safe!” He yelled over the clanking sound of the sharp feathers hitting his weapon. “Hold on tight, princess.” He lifted her up, her feet dangling just above the ground and ran forward, through the flurry of oncoming feathers, deflecting each one with the baton.

She linked her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder, almost frightened to let go. She didn’t know what to do except press into him, and god did she not want to.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

He finally came to a stop around the block and dipped into a secluded alley, out of view of Black Swan. Marinette settled to the ground, “What are you doing?”

“Saving you, what did it look like?!” He gently pulled arms she hadn’t realized were still wrapped around his neck off of him and gave them a pat.

Her face reddened, her eyes shifting down the alley. She needed to look at anything except him. There were more important things at hand. What was she thinking?!

There wasn’t exactly much time for her to think anyway, since Black Swan managed to find them instantly, yet again. “You didn’t think you could just hide from me like that, did you?” She hummed.

Chat groaned, “Don’t you have anything better to do? Like dancing?!”

The lady cackled, “I _am_ dancing, silly! But I also need something of yours. It’s called multi-tasking!” in one fluid move, she cast her arms out and sent the feathers flying.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi27_zpsisaawqlt.png.html)

With nowhere to run, Chat hugged Marinette into his chest, turning so his back faced Black Swan, and jumped as high as he could into the air. They dodged the attack, though one managed to catch his tail and clean right through, leaving a hole, but now they had a new problem. Adrien hung from one hand from the railing of a fire escape way too high to fall from. His other arm slung around the slipping Marinette, who desperately clung to the side of his waist. He glanced down at her and offered the most reassuring smile he could. “Just hanging around, huh?”

She rolled her eyes, kicking her feet as she struggled, “This really doesn’t seem to be working.”

“What, hanging from this thing or fighting her?” Chat deadpanned, somewhat rhetorically.

“Yes.”

He nodded. Figures. With a grunt, he tried to heave them up, but to no avail. This fight was drawing on too long, and he was tuckering out. His exhausted body couldn’t take much more. “I’m going to try something really dangerous, okay?”

“Oh god, please don’t!” Marinette hollered, slipping down another inch. “Trying new things is cool and all, but now is really not the time!”

“Don’t worry, princess.” Adrien let go of his gasp on her.

She hugged even tighter and screamed. “What are you doing?!”

“I said don’t worry. Just hold on, okay?!”

On the dirty street below, Black Swan watched them dangle with a smirk. She raised a thin arm and aimed her fingers at the pair. “Once I catch you, Ladybug will be a piece of cake!”

Adrien took a deep breath and with both hands on the rail and all his might, tugged himself and Marinette upward, grasping at the next iron bar of the escape.

Eyes fixed on the ballerina, Marinette shifted from her hanging place anxiously. Her sweaty palms grew even sweatier. She lost another inch, her face now level with his hip bones. “Can you speed with whatever it is you’re doing?” She pleaded.

“I’m trying!”

“Look, I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but actually, I do. _Try harder_!”

Black Swan released her attack. There was no time. In a last-ditch attempt to save their lives, Marinette felt around the small of Chat’s back, much to his surprise, and yanked the baton from his belt, flinging it towards Black Swan and her feathers. They missed the attack, but hit the akumatized woman squarely in the face. The feathers scratched right past their skin, hitting Chat in the leg and Marinette on her arms, and lodged into the brick wall.

Though he couldn’t see it with his face turned to the task at hand, Adrien smirked at the sound of the satisfying thunk. “Nice.”

“Don’t mention it. Any luck up there? I can’t hang on much longer.”

He frowned, pulling even harder, but the more he tried, the more tired he became. “I don’t think this is working, so Plan B: See if you can climb up me before we both fall to our deaths. Sound good?”

Marinette didn’t even need to think about it, “Great plan, love it.” She carefully removed one hand and inched it up his side.

He convulsed, causing Marinette to lose her grip, “That tickles!”

“Sorry, not sorry,” Marinette grunted, flailing now and holding on with only one hand by his belt. She spotted a ladder hanging from the other side of the landing and looked back up at Chat, “Plan C!” She cried, and started swinging back and forth.

Adrien yowled, “What?! What are you doing?! No, stop that!” He just barely kept his grip on the structure as his body twisted with her movements. “I really don’t like this plan!”

“Yeah, well, the other ones just weren’t working out.” Marinette said with a jaded complacency. One more swing, just one more swing. Her toes touched the ladder, but didn’t catch. She bit her lip, so close. With a deep breath, she swung once more, and at the peak of the swing, she let go.

Adrien screamed. “Marinette!”

She sailed in mid-air for just a moment, and caught onto the lowest rung of the ladder. Whatever was keeping it up unhinged from Marinette’s weight and sent the whole ladder sliding down. It stopped less than ten feet from the ground. Marinette caught her breath, “Oh god, I thought I was going to die!” She squeaked, and dropped to the ground.

“ _You_ thought you were going to die?!” Chat called down, “ _I_ thought you were going to die! Why would you do that?! It’s so dangerous!”

“We don’t have time to worry about that right now. Just pull yourself up and get down here!”

Feeling much better without the added weight of Marinette, Adrien was finally able to pull himself up, though still out of breath. He slipped down the ladder on the other side and landed right next to her. “That was pretty amazing, though, even if it was kind of dangerous.”

“Danger is my middle name,” Marinette winked.

He narrowed his eyes “No it’s not.”  
  
She shrugged, “You don’t know that.”  
  
They crept towards Black Swan, who lay, incapacitated, on the gravel. Chat collected his staff from the ground and leaned over her unconscious body.

Marinette’s eyes flitted to the side, now she just needed to figure out where on earth the dancer’s akuma was hiding. And get away and transform of course, too. She rubbed at the scratches on her arms, hoping those would heal once this was finished. Working with Chat as Marinette wasn’t anything new, even to this extent, but she couldn’t help but feel out of her element. Akuma fights, even the worst of them were usually nice and under her control, but _this_? This had been chaos! Not that that was Chat’s fault. And not that she hadn’t enjoyed it in some part. Though dangling from a fire escape wouldn’t be her first choice of exhilarating activities to try, the look on his face when she’d landed had been priceless. Totally worth it.

Lost in her thoughts, Marinette failed to noticed Black Swan stir. It was just her luck that Chat Noir tackled her to the ground yet again before the lady’s weapons unstuck themselves from the wall of the alley’s building and hurled down at them. “This is getting really repetitive.” Chat groaned, pulling himself off of her, though he hesitated once again as he looked down at her. Despite being completely flustered, her hair mussed, and face flushed, she was still so… _cute_. “You’ve got a little, uh… blood on your face.” He muttered, avoiding all eye-contact.

She wiped at the scratch, smudging the rusty reddish color staining her cheek, “Did I get it?”

“Um…no, let me.” With a tentative hand, he brushed away the blood with the pad of his thumb, careful not to scratch her with the claws on his glove. “There.” He looked away and shook his head. Distractions like this were exactly why they still hadn’t stopped this villain.

“You two really are a bore. Where’s Ladybug? I need some more excitement for my performance!”

Adrien’s brow furrowed. Where was Ladybug? She was right, his lady had yet to return. Had she been okay? Did she really heal like she’d said? What if she’d been hurt and he abandoned her _again._

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just toying with you.” Marinette’s voice was music drowning out his anxieties. Ladybug would be fine. He needed to finish this job before she showed up.

“I have an idea,” said Marinette.

“Hit me, because I’ve got nothing.”

Marinette nodded and took his hand, “Dance with me.”

He drew back, a look of startled confusion spreading across his masked face, “What?!”

Black Swan staggered to her feet. They only had a few second of deliberation left. Their exchange was fired back quicker than bullets from a gun.

“ _Dance with me_.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have an idea just do it.” She grabbed his hand again, but he yanked it away.

“What? No!”

“Come on, she’s getting up.”

Five seconds.

“This has nothing to do with dancing!”

Four seconds.

“Just take my hand.”

Three seconds.

“I don’t understand.”

Two seconds.

Black Swan aimed her weapons.

“Just trust me.”

In one swift action, somewhat begrudging, and somewhat excited, Adrien took Marinette’s hand and dipped her, far back, and out of the way of the oncoming fire. The missile-like feathers shot right through the space between them.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi26_zpsi660m20r.png.html)

Adrien stared down at Marinette, still dipped in his arms, his eyebrows raised in realization. Marinette grinned and stood up straight. “Follow my lead.”

She pressed her heels together: first position. He followed suit, a smirk playing at his lips, “Isn’t the guy supposed to lead?”

“I don’t think the situation calls for it right now,” She retorted. They each split their legs apart, second position, and then crouched into a demi-plie, ducking out of the way of the returning feathers as they sailed back by Black Swan’s command. Together, they moved through the next three positions, feet sweeping over the gravel as they dodged each attack. One foot in front, third position, foot forward, fourth position, then twisted to the side, fifth position, and they spun. Adrien shuffled behind her and caught her raised hand in his own, the other one finding its place on her waist as he guided her, in a darting, mish-mashed dance, skirting and side-stepping out of the way of Black Swan’s offensive. What had once been a hassle of evading her feathers, now came with ease. They stepped round and round each other in a dance that seemed well-practiced, as if they knew each and every step by heart.

Marinette lifted off her heels, not entirely en pointe, she knew enough about ballet to know that would have been a mistake, but enough to constitute their dance as something resembling a ballet. They pranced over the gravel like it was a stage, spinning and stepping and weaving with the other in an allegro of dance. Her partner hopped to the side in a pas de chat she knew he would pun about if they weren’t so focused, then helped to twirl her in a pirouette, followed by a bow forward, and a lift. Each move was both spontaneous and calculated, a dancing contradiction to fend off the feathers.

Black Swan grew impatient, growling as she sent the feathers down the alley and back and down again, each set missing them by mere inches. She dropped to her heels and ran forward in an outright attack. Her rhythm was gone, it was no longer a ballet dance for her, but a squabble. She hissed in pain with each step, throwing her head back in agony as she realized the consequences of dancing without her missing shoes.

Adrien took the opening, thrusting Marinette out of the way in a spin in the other direction, and extending his baton out towards Black Swan. It knocked her off her feet, blowing the wind right out of her. Marinette let go of Chat hand while he focused on her and slipped down the alley. She crept behind a lamppost and opened her bag for Tikki, “It’s time, let’s go.”

Tikki nodded in affirmation and at Marinette’s command, whirled into her earrings and triggered her transformation. With a grin, Marinette relished in the feeling of comfy, flexible spandex on her skin. “Time to dance,” she laughed, and ran back around the corner.

Black Swan lay on the ground, a sight both familiar and satisfactory. Chat stood at her feet, his arms draped over his staff which rested on his shoulders, a toothy smile on his face. “My lady,” he greeted her.

She winked, “I saw you were having some trouble, mind if I cut in?”

“Oh I’d love to, but I was in the middle of a dance with…” His voice faltered as he turned to find Marinette nowhere to be seen. “Never mind.”

Marinette leaned over Black Swan’s crumpled body, “Where do you think the akuma is hiding, then? It wasn’t in either of the shoes.”

“Maybe one of the feathers?” he gestured to both her feathered tutu and the fallen feathery weapons scattered across the ground.

“Are you kidding? There’s hundreds of them, that’d be like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s got to be something else, it can’t just be a random feather.”

Adrien folded at the waist and gently poked the frontispiece feather of Black Swan’s headdress. “Maybe not a random feather, but a special one?”

Marinette smiled, “Maybe,” She said with a smirk as she plucked the black plume from its place.

Out of the crown flew one of the little butterflies they had come to know so well. Marinette caught it before it could get away and purified it, “I free you from evil!” She cried, releasing it back out, pure and starkly white. She tossed her yo-yo into the air and called on her second power, sending a flurry of ladybugs whipping around the scene. The scratches on their bodies healed, spandex and fabric un-tearing as if in rewind, and Black Swan, in a cloud of black and purple, disappeared to reveal a dainty ballerina in a plain white tutu; the soloist’s understudy, most likely. Her slippers reappeared, her toes healed.

She blinked, her head swaying back and forth as though she’d been spinning for hours. Technically, she had been. “Wha-?”

Marinette rested a hand on Chat’s shoulder, “Can you take it from here? I kind of need to go?”

He placed his own hand on hers, smiling, and nodded.

Marinette dashed away and around the corner once again. Under the cover of another one of the dark alleys of Paris she’d become accustomed to, she safely detransformed and dusted herself off. She grinned at Tikki, “The dress is all fixed! Thank goodness!”

Tikki smiled back and winked, “You’re welcome, Marinette.”

“Now I just have to find out where Adrien went. I hope he’s okay.” Her own smile faded just the slightest, “He just sort of vanished, it was weird.” They strolled out of the alley, back towards the theater, “It’s been a long day,” She breathed.

She peeked down the next alleyway as she passed it, and found herself stopping to watch as Chat Noir explained what had happened to the poor dancer. She seemed so small, so much less intimidating now; his hand dwarfed her bony shoulder as he gave her a reassuring pat. She knew that feeling, of his hand on her shoulder, it was a good one. She blushed to think it.

The dancer scampered off, Chat’s eyes following after her until they trailed to meet Marinette’s. He grinned, “Ah, I thought you’d _disa-purred_!”

Marinette’s eyes deadened at the pun, “Yeah, okay, bye.”

Chat darted forward and caught her by the arm. Marinette ignored the flash of deja-vu she felt at his touch.

“I’m _kitten_ , I’m kitten, don’t leave,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes, “You’re so purr-dictable!”

“Pawdon me, princess—I mean, purr-incess-- but I already used, ‘purr,’” Chat pouted through his smile, “Twice, now.”

“I guess I’ve _cat_ to try harder.” Marinette laughed back. 

“Good enough.”

Their laughter settled into silence, and for a moment, they just stared at each other, a feeling so foreign, and yet, at the back of their minds, so familiar.

Marinette broke the quiet, “I should go, I need to find my friend.”

Chat nodded, “Need a lift?”

“It would speed things up a bit, sure.”

Chat picked her up off the ground, arms snaked around her waist, hers clinging around his neck, and raced down the block towards the Palais Garnier. She held on tight, eyes scrunched shut as he sprinted and sprang across the rooftops.

She wanted to blame her inability to breath on his arms constricting around her, but she knew better. She’d felt that pitter-patter heartbeat, butterflies in her stomach, no air feeling before and she hated herself for feeling it now, given who was carrying her. So she just lied to herself instead. Her heart raced because she was going to go see Adrien. Her stomach was fluttery because he was running. And she couldn’t breath because he was holding her. There was no way she was in love with Chat Noir. Obviously.

She let out a breath when he finally set her down on the cobbled street outside the theater. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Good luck finding your friend, princess.” He patted her shoulder, so softly this time, barely grazing her skin, “I’m sure he’s closer than you think.” He gave her one last sly wink and pounced up and out.

Marinette stared after him, and as soon as he’d disappeared, busted through the empty theater doors.

Adrien stumbled out of the main entrance, a smile at his lips, “Hey, Marinette, there you are!” He called, “I was looking for you!”

Marinette sighed in relief, thanking her lucky stars he was alright, and blushing at the thought of him searching for her. She couldn’t help but pull him into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright, you had me worried.”

Adrien froze, red spreading across his cheeks, and slowly relaxed into the hug. He wasn’t used to Marinette being this touchy, at least not while he was in his civilian form. “Well I’m alright, and you’re alright and I don’t know about you, but I’m tired as hell,” he pulled back to look at her, but let his hands stay rested on her shoulders, “Why don’t we go get something to eat, huh?”

“Please.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness this one was SO LONG. I apologize to any and all dancers and ballerinas who might read this. I did basically no research while writing this, so I know how terrible it probably reads. 
> 
> I'm glad I actually did get to do pictures for this, but it was only because I really wanted to draw Marinette's dress. I didn't realize how much she and Chat looked like Alice in Wonderland until...well... now. Lmao


	10. Frostic Adventures on the Road Less Travelled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two paths are presented, one is taken. The question is, by whom?

Two roads diverged in a metaphorical yellow wood and Marinette couldn’t take either. She sat back on her chaise lounge, staring out over her balcony, breathless as her mind raced with a million thoughts. Before her, figuratively speaking, was a choice, and she was having some serious difficulty making her mind up about it.    
Two choices.

_Aye, there’s the rub_ , she thought, harkening back to the one passage of Hamlet she could remember. As the evening sun dipped lower and lower into the sky, her gaze mirrored it, falling to her lap as her head hung with shame. She mumbled to herself but whatever it was that she was saying, she couldn’t quite hear it. She couldn’t quite hear anything. Her head was buzzing too goddamn loud as she recounted the events of the last few hours over and over again.

Less than a week ago, the pounding of her heart that resulting from Chat Noir’s touch had been a feeling she could push to the back of her mind and dismiss as just misplaced anxiety over Adrien. But now, here she was just a few days after Black Swan’s attack and the pounding had very little to do with Adrien. And everything to do with Adrien. All she wanted was to clear her thoughts, but her pulse had yet to calm, and her restless mind had yet to be relieved.

Two choices, two boys, Adrien or Chat; _to be or not to be, that was the question._

 

* * *

 

 

Two boys and two hours earlier, Marinette, all geared up as Ladybug, swooped down the streets from her balcony towards the Agreste mansion. She landed against the window with the usual thunk that alerted Adrien to her presence and offered a smile and a wave through the window glass before sliding in through the already-open panel. He’d become familiar with her off-and-on schedule of dropping in. The open window was always waiting for her no matter the night.

There wasn’t much talking to be done today, though, they’d both wordlessly decided as he immediately pulled her in for a kiss. His fingers weaved their way through her hair while her own explored the expanse of his back and shoulders, snagging him by the collar to bring him closer. She tugged his overshirt off, not that it made much of a difference, what, with his t-shirt underneath, and pushed his body against the wall, sinking herself into his chest. Her arms slunk around his neck. It was a familiar feeling, and yet it still set his skin ablaze. Fire caught on their lips, spreading and engulfing them in flames wherever their bodies touched.

Marinette nibbled at his bottom lip, eliciting an involuntary moan from Adrien. She smiled into the kiss, pleased with herself, while his hands roamed down from where they’d tangled in her hair and slid over the spotted spandex at her hips, towards the small of her back. There was no struggle as he pressed into her even harder, drawn in by the gravity of her presence. He was the satellite to her world, trapped in an endless orbit he never wanted to escape.

Marinette ran her deft fingertips over his chest. She roped one arm back around his neck and brought the other up to cup his cheek. The only thing keeping them from melting into one was the separation between their lips each time they gasped for breath.

She enjoyed nights likes these. Talking with him was the best, sure; she loved learning more about him with every conversation. But if deep, late-night conversations were a cathartic job with a heavy, but enjoyable work-load, then the kissing was an island vacation; a simple, yet rewarding reprieve from thought.

Until he pulled away, that is, breathing heavy. She leaned in, hungry for more, but he arched his back away, “Sorry,” he said.

“Nothing to be sorry about, just kiss me, you idiot,” She giggled, leaning in a second time only to have her advances rebuffed again. She pouted, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” He repeated, pushing her off of him as gently as he could and plopping onto his couch. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

Marinette wondered if he and his father had ever resolved their differences. Perhaps that was what troubled him. When they talked as him and Ladybug, though he’d told her a lot about himself, the topic of his father was one generally avoided. Aside from the night of Fabriquant’s attack, everything she’d garnered about their relationship had been as Marinette. She had no business asking him about Gabriel as Ladybug.

But she _did_ have business prying. “What’s on your mind?” She asked, settling next to him on the couch.

“It’s stupid,” he said, pulling her into his lap and pretending he’d never said anything, “Don’t worry about it.”

She let him pull her closer, but couldn’t drop the subject, “No, what’s wrong, really?” She prodded, hands sliding over his chest.

Adrien sighed, his head bowed, as he stared down at her thighs straddling his own and stroked his hands up them to hold her waist. “I...” He hesitated, the question he wanted to ask had been one he’d asked almost every night, “You just always get mad when I ask...”

Her reassuring smile dropped, “I told you before, I’m not ready for you to know.”

“I just don’t understand, don’t I have a right to know who my own girlfriend is?!”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to stare at her lap. “You- you’re not-- I mean, you’re right, but it just--”

“It just what? I’d never tell anyone, no matter what. And I don’t even go on patrol with you anymore, so I’m not in any immediate danger. I’m ready to know, why aren’t you ready to tell me? Please?” he pleaded.

Her mouth twisted into a frown, but she couldn’t answer.

“See, you have no reasons, what on earth is holding you back? Is it me?”

“No!” Her head shot back up, “It’s not you, look, even Chat Noir doesn’t know who I am. I just want it to stay that way. I like to keep things separate.”

“What, so you’re saying that when you’re not Ladybug you aren't my girlfriend anymore? Is that it? Nice and ‘separate?’” Adrien seethed. This was absurd. He knew he should have never brought it up but he just couldn’t help himself, could he? “Am I just some hobby on the side for you?”

“No! No! it’s not that!”

“Than what?!”

Marinette glared, “Why do you care so much?! I thought you said you’d like me no matter what, so why does it even matter?! I’m still the same person!”

“Exactly!” Adrien exclaimed, “You’re the same person, so it _doesn’t_ matter, just tell me!” He took his hands off her and kneaded his temples, “I hate this, not knowing, not knowing where you are. I’m just on your string, I have no control in this relationship.”

“What are you talking about, of course you do, I’ve never seen it that way.” Marinette countered.

“I can’t even see or talk to you when I want to. I have to wait for you to just show up on a whim. What am I supposed to do? Shine a Ladybug Beacon into the sky every time I want to say hi?!”

She shifted uncomfortably in his lap, sliding back and pulling her legs together, “No,” She said, quiet now, “I-”

“Stop with the excuses, ugh!”

She shut her mouth, staring at the fixed black spot on her hand. They sat in silence for a moment until she slipped off of him and onto the couch beside him. She considered detransforming, right then and there. She wouldn’t even have to say the words, her bond with Tikki was so strong, she rarely ever had to. All she had to do was make the decision. As they sat there, unable to look at each other, she thumbed at the seam between her mask and her skin and wondered how something so simple and small could hide so much. She could detransform right then and there.

She could show him.

The silence shattered when he spoke, “Why don’t you just tell me? I-I love you, don’t you get that?”

Marinette froze. He loved her? _Loved?_

She _should_ show him.

“You’re the only one. You’re the only one left I care about. My mother is gone, my father is practically just as absent, even my best friend, he... he’s more interested in someone else now.” His voice was calmer now.

She _had_ noticed Nino spending more time with Alya lately. “I-” She faltered, unsure of how to reply, or if she even should. He was right. She was so close to breaking.

“I don’t...” he whispered, “I don’t care about anyone else I know as much as you, as much as I love you.” He lifted his head to look her in the eye.

But she couldn’t appreciate his words. Because _she_ knew him. _Marinette_ knew him. And like he’d said, he didn’t care about anyone else he knew.

Although it was a lie, or a half-lie at least. Adrien loved her, and he wasn’t thinking clearly, not that he understood that, himself. He bit his lip, his expression softening to one of sorrow, “Look, I’m sorry, just... forget I ever said anything.”    
Marinette crossed her arms over her chest and pulled her legs up with a pout, but didn’t reply.

He sighed, “Ladybug,” He lifted a hand and brought it to her cheek, ever so softly, to wipe away a budding tear.

She sniffled and pushed his hand away, “I- I need to go.” She sprang to her feet, avoiding his eyes.

“Wait-”

“No,” She mumbled, running for the window.

“Ladybug, wait-” He tried to catch her by the arm but she leaped from the window and swung out, leaving only empty air for him to grasp at. A scowl darkening his face, he slammed the tall glass panel shut and stormed to his bed. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream. He wasn’t unfamiliar with sadness, but this feverish rage was new, like an infinitely heightened version of his frustration with his father. He buried his face in the pillow and groaned as soon as Plagg floated out of hiding to accost him further.

“Nice job, kid.”

“Go away.”

Plagg shrugged, “You knew you shouldn’t have asked her that. She’s told you multiple times. I know. Because I’m stuck with you. I couldn’t leave your mushy gushy lovey-dovey drama even if I tried. And I’ve tried every time!”

“If you want to go,” said Adrien, his voice muffled by the pillow, “Then just go. I don’t care anymore!”

Plagg couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “Now you’re just being a drama-queen. You’ll feel better if you just sleep on it. Sleep fixes everything. Sleep and cheese.”

“Of course _you_ would say that.”

The kwami just shrugged again and nestled next to Adrien, “What can I say? I’m a cat of simple tastes.”

Adrien huffed and turned on his side, sending Plagg flying as he flopped back down onto he pillow.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What was that for?! I’m just trying to help. Look, I can’t give you a pep-talk every time you have a meltdown. I’m really only good for one every million years or so. You’ve outlasted your moping-time.”

“Some help you are,” Adrien mumbled. His arm draped over his forehead, “Ugh, I just don’t understand!”

“What’s there to not understand? The girl just wants her privacy. Even I can see that.”

“If I give you cheese, will you stop talking?”

“Give me cheese and I’ll do anything you want, kiddo.”

Adrien heaved him self up, releasing a heavy sigh and wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. From his bedside table, he grabbed a slice of cheese from the plate he usually had waiting for Plagg and tossed it to him. “There. Now be quiet and just let me be sad.”

“Your funeral. I’m going to bed. Sleep tight.”

Adrien abandoned Plagg and his bed to go rest on the couch again. Settling into the soft, waiting cushions, he stared forlornly out the window, willing his lady to just _come back_. He could see it all; he’d apologize, get down on his knees and beg. Anything for her.

He stuck his tongue out at the thought. God, he was pathetic! _No wonder she won’t tell you,_ he thought to himself, _You’re so weak. You’d grovel at her feet like a dog. She doesn’t want that, she’s better than that._

Even the fact that he was the most oblivious boy in the world couldn’t keep him from realizing he was being a little hard on himself, but he couldn’t help it. What else does one do when they’re taught they are worthless.

But Ladybug didn't think he was worthless. He knew that, at least. She’d never have stayed with him this long if she had. Nearly a year with her as Chat Noir had shown him that. The way she acted with him as Adrien strongly contrasted her actions while he was Chat Noir. Her affection for him as either was nearly equal, but as Chat, it was strictly platonic. His question now was whether he amounted to her as much as she did to him.

 

* * *

 

 

He was, of course, everything in her eyes. And she wanted to keep it that way. There was no way she’d ruin that by revealing herself as Marinette. Not a chance. At this point, even if he really could love her un-special self, though he had denied that possibility himself, he’d still probably resent her for lying for so long. As she landed and detransformed on her balcony floor, she immediately began pacing. Back and forth, back and forth, running her hands over the railing at her side. Why did everything have to be so complicated?!

 

* * *

 

 

“Why does everything have to be so complicated?!” Adrien lamented, slowly banging his head softly against the window. This close, his breath fogged up the glass. He wanted to see her waiting on the other side, but when it cleared, she was still gone. He knew she wouldn’t come back, she was too stubborn for her own good. He’d have to go after her himself; if she’d even talk to him once he found her. God, why was he so stupid?!

 

* * *

 

 

“Why am I so stupid?!” Demanded Marinette as she raged on and on to the helpless Tikki. Tikki tried to get a word in, but every pause in Marinette’s sentence was met with a comma and more ranting. There was no end to her ire. “Why did I think I could keep this up?! He can see right through me, I’m surprised he can’t see past the mask and just figure it out himself!” She raked her nails through her hair, “This is all my own damn mess-- _you_ even warned me-- I was just too much of an idiot to see it myself, to see past Adrien and his beautiful, beautiful eyes-- ugh, see?! I’m hopeless! He could never love Marinette-me! I have no clue what I’m doing, how am I supposed to fix this mess?!”

 

* * *

 

“Why do _I_ have to fix this mess?!” Adrien asked, to no one in particular, Plagg certainly wasn’t listening anymore. “Why do _I_ have to go find her? She’s the one who won’t tell me who she is, she started this!” And why did he have to find that so freaking attractive, too?! His mind couldn’t make sense of anything. Was it the anger? The teenage hormones? Plagg wouldn’t listen to him. Ladybug wouldn’t have any of it. Who did he even have to talk to but himself?

 

* * *

 

“Who am I even supposed to talk to about this?” Marinette didn’t exactly give Tikki the chance to answer, “I love you to death, Tikki, but you aren’t exactly a human, how are you of all people supposed to give me relationship advice?” Tikki opened her mouth, only to be cut off again, “And I can’t talk to Alya without being too vague for it to work. And besides, she’s _Alya_ , she’ll sniff out her answers once the mystery is presented anyway, and then what? I’d be in an even bigger mess! Can’t even talk to my parents about it, they’d pry too much, too! Who’s even left after that?!

 

* * *

 

 

Who was even left after that? Adrien wondered to himself.

_Marinette._

He’d forgotten about Marinette.

 

* * *

 

 

Tikki finally got a word in, “You’ve got Chat Noir.”

 

* * *

 

 

“No,” Adrien murmured aloud, “She’s already given me plenty of advice, I can’t ask for more help, it’s not fair.”

 

* * *

 

 

“No,” said Marinette, “I--”

 

* * *

 

 

_You trust her, don’t you?_

 

* * *

 

 

“You trust him, don’t you?” asked Tikki.

 

* * *

 

 

_Yes._

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, Adrien found himself once again, sitting in his room, lost in thought. But these thoughts were quite different than they’d been an hour earlier. Two hours ago, he’d been with Ladybug. An hour later, with Plagg. And in the hour in between then and now?

He’d gone to see Marinette.

One hour previously, Marinette paced furiously across her balcony. She couldn’t stop rambling, even if she’d wanted to, much to Tikki’s chagrin. She’d have continued all night if it weren’t for the black-clad figure that landed, perfectly balanced on the rails of her balcony.

Adrien offered her his signature Chat Noir grin, though it pained him to smile through the thoughts taunting him in his mind. He wished he could have gone to her as Adrien, but he knew better. She’d always been more comfortable around Chat than his civilian persona. Even he of all people had noticed that. And besides, he’d already probably freaked her out with his drama over what she had assumed was his father, he couldn’t go asking for more advice like she was his therapist.

At least, not as Adrien Agreste, he couldn’t.

Before he could spot her, Tikki dashed into one of the potted plants at the side of the roof, burrowing under the petals and dirt of the flowerbed.

Marinette raised a brow, her racing thoughts halted by her sudden confusion, “What are you doing here?” She asked.

“Thought I’d come say hi.” He said.

“Okay, you’ve said it. Why?”

“What, can’t a cat talk to his friend at all?

“Oh, so we’re friends, now?” Marinette inquired-- rather facetiously, though.

He hopped down in front of her, just a foot away. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he was definitely taller than her. “I mean, hey, it’s not like I saved your life a bunch of times or anything.” He shrugged.

Marinette smirked, “Well it’s not like I saved _yours_ , too. We’re all square.”

“I wasn’t here to collect on anything.” He objected, giving her a look of mock offense. “Like I said, can’t a friend say hi? Are we really not friends?”

“I suppose we are.” Marinette replied. Seeing as he wasn’t going anywhere soon, she sat herself down on her chaise. “What comes after, ‘hi,’ then?”

“How about, ‘how are you doing?’”

“Terribly,” Marinette said matter-of-factly, “And yourself?”

He pursed his lips, eyes looking up to the sky in search of something that wasn’t there, “Could be better. What’s troubling you, then?”

Marinette stared him dead in the eye. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about it with him of all people, trust be damned. “ _Personal_ matters.”

“Don’t you mean _purrsonal_ matters?” He flashed a grin, dropping into a crawl and inching towards where she sat.

She swatted at him half-heartedly, and he hissed as if he were a real cat, which only made her laugh.

“Alright then,” she said, “what about you, Mr. ‘Could-Be-Better?’”

His smile returned. Marinette hated herself for noticing, but she couldn’t stop staring at his lips. His timing was just too good and this was just too much of a bad idea.

His green eyes bore into hers but she couldn’t quite tear herself away, “Got into a little spat with a, uh… friend.”

“Did you resolve it?”

He frowned, “Do you think I’d be here if I had?” He leaned in closer.

She sat up straighter, sliding to the far edge of the seat, away from him. “I don’t know, you tell me. Who’s this, ‘friend,’ of yours?”

Adrien propped himself up on the end of her chair. He just wanted to be close to her. Or he didn’t. He couldn’t make up his mind. The only thing that filled it were the faces of two different girls and, much to his chagrin, they were starting to blend together. He wondered if he was going crazy, so he stopped wondering; thinking was too tiring. She seemed reluctant, so he did his best to stay at the edge. “Just… a friend.”

“Wow, very specific. I’m glad I asked.”

He chuckled, “It’s a girl, actually.”

She tipped her head, “Ladybug?” It couldn’t be her, right? Hadn’t they ironed out their differences?

Adrien hesitated to answer for a moment, “…No.” He lied. “Different girl.”

“Girlfriend?” She pushed. She’d never actually thought about it before, that Chat had a life outside of her. She’d always assumed he’d had a thing for Ladybug, but… maybe not?

“Yes, actually.”

Her eyebrows raised in mild surprise, “Huh, never knew you had one. Does she know who you are?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

“So what happened, then?”

He sighed, “We, uh, had a little argument over something.”

He was being painfully difficult. “I understand your desire for ambiguity here, but if you want to talk, you’re going to have to, well… talk.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “She’s been keeping something from me. A whole other side of her life, I just wanted to know about it, you know, know her better, I guess. And she… I don’t know, she just sort of stormed off.”

Marinette ripped her eyes away, her gaze falling to her twiddling fingers. Their lives were so similar, even without the masks, apparently. It scared her how much they mirrored each other. “Funny, my personal matters also involve a fight with someone.”

Now it was his turn to raise a brow, “A boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy, thought he hated himself for it. It made sense, he guessed, she was very pretty, and so nice. He wondered who it could be. “What happened?”

“He said some things.”

“Wow, so you spurn a guy for talking?” He asked with a laugh.

She scowled, “No, it’s not that… what he said upset me, but it’s not really something I can let go.” She frowned, but relaxed a little, and leaned back into the chair.

He edged closer. “My girlfriend? She didn’t say anything at all. She just left. It was weird.”

“You don’t know why?”

His mouth twisted, “Not really, no. I mean, I guess I said some things that set her off, but it seemed like things were going well for a second, and then all of a sudden she freaked out again.”

“You said she had some part of her you didn’t know, right?”

He nodded.

“Maybe you just pried too far. Sometimes, people have stuff they just want to keep for themselves. I can definitely understand that.” She understood it too well.

A sullen look cast over his face, Marinette cursed herself for thinking it was almost cute. Like a little kitten face.

“I feel like she’s just being selfish, though. It’s not some small thing that she’s keeping from me, it’s a huge thing, massive! And I just want to be a part of that.”

“Aren’t you doing the same to her, though? By keeping this side of you from her? Is that really fair?”

“Yes, yes, no, but… I don’t know, I don’t care. I just want her.”

Marinette didn’t budge this time as he moved in. Now he was sitting very close. Their hands were nearly touching. She smiled, one of understanding, and closed the gap between their fingers by placing her own hand over his, “I hate to tell you this, but isn’t that a little bit hypocritical?”

At her touch, he laced his fingers with her and clung tight. This made her draw back, but she didn’t let go. “Maybe I am just as selfish.” He said.

She was staring again. She wasn’t sure if it was just a staring that contest she was determined to win or something more, but she refused to look away. “I guess we all are,” She said, though it was almost a whisper.

“We are all just selfish, indecisive, crazy people, huh?” his voice was low as he answered his own question, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

“I want to stop thinking,” Marinette drifted forward, their faces so close.

He angled his head so he could look right at her face below his. His breathing slowed, but his heart beat fast. The only other girl he’d been this close to was Ladybug. Ladybug, the girl he loved.

He wanted to stop.

But he couldn’t. “I could help you with that,” he sighed and leaned down to kiss her.

She closed her eyes.

He stopped, their lips just millimeters apart.

God he wanted to fill the space between them. But he loved someone else. And Marinette had a boyfriend. What was he thinking?

She opened her eyes at his pause, staring right into his own confused ones.

Adrien bit his lip and sat back up, his eyes shifting away. Without a word, he stood and jumped from the balcony as Marinette watched.

And just a little while later, she was still there. Lost, as usual, in her thoughts. They clouded her mind even more than they had an hour ago. Why did he have to do that? Why did he have to even show up?

Why did he have to make everything worse?

Because she loved Adrien. Even after what he’d said she loved him.

But, and she was loathe to admit it, everything she felt for Adrien, she had felt again in that moment with Chat. He was everything Adrien wasn’t and she wanted him all the same. Her fingers touched her lips where his hadn’t. The feeling of his breath, so close, still etched in her mind.

Tikki rose from the flowers, stunned, “Well that was… interesting.”

“Indeed,” Marinette spoke. Words felt foreign in her mouth. The silence had seemed to last an eternity.

“What are you going to do?”

Marinette let her eyes close, she hadn’t realized she’d just been staring off into space where Chat Noir had left. Her teeth grit, her lungs filled with a deep breath of air, “I’m going to fix this. Tikki, transform me.”

Once again, Marinette found herself swinging in a deep arc towards Adrien’s home. And once again, she denied any feelings she had for Chat. She loved Adrien. She’d always loved him. It didn’t matter what he’d said, he had just been trying to prove the same to her. She could not—not, _would not_ —let a stupid cat get in the way of everything she’d ever wanted.

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien stumbled through the window into his bathroom only to hear a thud in his bedroom. There was no time to freak out over what had just occurred, he quickly detransformed and left Plagg on the counter, “Hello? Who’s there?” he wandered out into the room.

And there was Ladybug. She’d come back.

A twinge of guilt hit him hard, the way a cinder block might hit glass. What the hell had he been thinking? He had everything he needed right there in front of him. “Lady…”

“Hey,” She smiled sheepishly, “I-I’m sorry for running off like that, it was stupid. I was being selfish.”

“No, you were right, I was the one being selfish. You don’t need to tell me anything, I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, “No, stop, I’ve just been unfair to you. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. It’s true I don’t really want to tell you and yeah, it’s kind of just because I want to keep things the way they are, but-“

He shushed her, stepping closer, “Really, you were right, and… I’m so sorry.”

“I told you, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. If anything, I’m the one who should…” She blinked away the thought of Chat Noir and the almost-touch of his lips, “ _I’m the one who should apologize_.”

He winced at her words, and the image of Marinette sitting right underneath him, her soft fingers, interlocked with his own. He hated himself. “I… I have more to apologize for than that, though. I did something terrible.”

“Wanting to know who I am is not terrible.” She assured.

“No, not that. Something else.”

“What else even is there? Look, I know this is my fault, and, I, I promise to tell you eventually, but-“

“I’ve fallen for someone else.” Adrien blurted.

Marinette stilled. That was unexpected. “You…what?”   
“I’m… I love you, but… there’s another person and I’m just conflicted.”

She stepped back and closed her eyes, unsure of whether she was hearing him clearly, “You’re… conflicted? About what? Make a choice. I thought you said you loved me.”

“I do, I just can’t make up my mind.”

“Why are you even telling me this? What possessed you to think I wanted to hear this?!”

“I’m just trying to be honest here, I feel terrible.”

Marinette couldn’t believe she’d felt guilty for what she’d almost done with Chat, when he’d been doing the exact same thing. “So your solution was to make me feel terrible?! And to think that I was the one who came here to apologize!”

“Ladybug, please, you don’t understand.”

“Less than two hours ago you literally told me I was the only one you even cared about and now all of a sudden there’s some other girl?”

“It’s not all of a sudden, I just-“

“Oh, so you lied to me?!” Marinette’s voice rose in volume.

Adrien raised his hands begging her to quiet down, “No—I mean, yes, I guess—but-“

“Me or her, you need to choose.”

Adrien found himself at a loss for words, “I-I can’t-“

“You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to tell you who I am. I don’t even want to see you anymore. Ugh, I can’t believe you!” Wiping angry tears from the corners of her eyes, she flew back out the window.

This pattern was growing familiar. Two visits in one night and both had ended in a fight. What was wrong with her that she thought she could actually fix anything at all?

So overcome with fury or jealousy or maybe just misplaced hatred she couldn’t even bother to hold up the transformation. She landed on a building across the street, and, out of view of Adrien’s bedroom window released Tikki.

Tikki bounded out, “Marinette, what on earth?!”

“Sorry Tikki, I’m just going to walk home.”

Tikki shook her head, “No, not that, what was that back there? Why would you say those things?”

“Didn’t you hear him? He lied the first time to try and get me to stay, who knows if he actually even loves me for real! And the second time, when I went back as if I should have even been sorry, he unloads _that_ unnecessary fact!”

Tikki glared, “Marinette, he didn’t do anything you haven’t.”

“What are you talking about? He _lied_ to me. He said he likes someone else. How can he really like me if there is someone else out there he’d be, ‘conflicted,’ over?”

“Aren’t you having the exact same problem, Marinette?”

Marinette stormed down the ladder at the side of the building, “That’s different, you don’t understand!”

“I think I understand just fine, Marinette. Have a little self-awareness. You need to calm down.”

“I can’t!” She screamed, dropping down into the darkness of the alley below. In the sky above, the moon had been buried over with storm clouds, blocking the light of her path. “I can’t think properly anymore, between Adrien and Chat, and whatever the hell this thing happening in my head is!” She groaned, pulling at her hair.

Tikki said nothing in reply.

They walked home in silence. But Marinette’s mind was the least silent thing in the world as every moment of the night echoed in her head over and over again.

 

* * *

 

 

At 7pm, Ladybug had landed at Adrien’s window. Not much later she stormed off.

At 8pm, Chat Noir went to Marinette for help. By the end of their conversation, both of them had realized a similar fact.

Just before 9pm, Ladybug had, for the second time that night, gone to Adrien and, for the second time that night, left in a rage.

Luck was on no one’s side tonight as Adrien watched his Lady leave him behind once again, his face streaming with tears, his mind racing with thoughts, and his heart breaking.

Except one person. Bad luck for the duo spelled a blessing for one lucky soul. From his bedroom window, the man had a perfect view of the building across the street, and at exactly 9pm, he watched as the superhero, Ladybug, having left the Agreste mansion, landed on a nearby roof. Under the small sliver of moonlight left behind the coming storm clouds, he saw her transformation and the face of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, just before the sky went dark.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Gabriel Agreste finally knew which path to take. And that had made all the difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D :D :D :D  
> I think we may be in the final stretch, but don't take my word for it. I had originally estimated these last ten chapters only taking six or seven. 
> 
> I may also need to go back to posting weekly rather than so sporadically. I've caught up with most of the chapters I had piling up.


	11. Stoned and Tipsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An ultimatum is delivered.

There was a coldness in class the next morning. Everyone could feel it. Madame Bustier blamed the cold front closing in but the kids knew better. A cold front in summer was strange, but the tension between the students was even stranger. To use the cliché, it could be cut by a butter knife.  
  
And Marinette felt it most of all.

Adrien, on the other hand, had been spared from the worst of it. Sure, sitting directly in front of the girl who didn’t know they had almost kissed one night previously was awkward, but the object of his frustrations was, to his knowledge, nowhere in the vicinity.

Marinette, however, had to spend the class period staring at hers all day. His blonde hair the fixed point to which her eyes bore through. She wished her superpowers involved more laser-eye vision so she could burn right through him, but he barely seemed to notice. In fact, he seemed to be deliberately ignoring her and despite her better judgement, knowing he knew nothing about her true identity, she still took it as a personal affront.

How had she ever assumed that he considered her more than a friend? _He’d only stayed at the hospital out of guilt or obligation or something, nothing more_. She thought. _He’d asked to hang out because he pitied me or Nino had better things to do, Alya-related things. Who knows?_ She didn’t, at least. And she swore it didn’t bother her.

What a big, fat lie.

Adrien, though, was too preoccupied with his conflicting thoughts of Ladybug and the quiet girl sitting behind him to actually notice either. He gradually began projecting his self-loathing and irritation with himself on Ladybug.

Screw waiting for her, right? He’d been nothing but devoted to her, trusting in her, and he’d thought, trusted by her, and all she could do was scream and yell and blame him for everything. Before, he’d thought this was a Chat Noir issue, but clearly the common thread was Ladybug, not himself.

Yet, regardless of everything he still loved her and it made him hate her more.

With the storm clouds looming in the sky, their displeasure seemed to have extended to everyone else in the class. Something was rotten in the city of Paris, and everybody was blue.

And a blue city, vulnerable for the taking and protected by a red hero was the perfect formula for a purple conqueror, of course. Hawkmoth’s first attack since Black Swan made these intentions known.

The Exterminator, he’d been called. What he represented was crystal clear to Marinette. If his name hadn’t given it away, his fumigation gun and buggy, exoskeleton armor obviously did. That said, he’d been an easy beat. Which was for the best, given how many times Marinette found herself distracted by Chat Noir’s grinning face, or the lips making said grin.

He had really nice lips. And eyes. And hair. And everything, really. She’d been too infatuated with Adrien to notice before, but she’d fallen now, and she’d fallen hard.

What made it worse was how distant he’d suddenly become. As cold to her as the stinging rain on her skin. It rained for days, and with it, new akumas. A new fight for each day of the week.

She was hopeless. He was, too, but for an entirely different person, he thought.

Marinette consumed his thoughts. If he wasn’t internally screaming about a certain little red bug, he was imagining her. Nino was right, she was gorgeous, so cute, and so kind. But it didn’t help that she’d suddenly started ignoring him at school. He felt like it his first day all over again. He felt lonely. His father had recently become increasily more reclusive, giving Nathalie the day off more which meant he didn’t even see her, Nino had Alya and now even Marinette wouldn’t talk to him.

 _Big surprise_ , he thought, had he expected anything different?

After Exterminator was Sandman, who put half the city to sleep. Another easy win, however.

Then came Ecrivain, a hauntingly paper-white figure with no face. They wrote stories on their arms and legs and body and they would come to life. A formidable enemy and yet they still went down with barely a fight.

It scared Marinette, how quickly each fight went. No matter how powerful. What was worse was that they had all seemed to have lost their will. In the past, most akumatized villains only attacked Ladybug and Chat Noir when the duo got in their way. They had other matters and revenges to attend to, Ladybug and Chat Noir were just antagonists to them. But these new ones had sought them out. Each one cared less and less about their own problems and had fixed all their focus on stopping the heroes. Poorly, though; their battle decisions were slow and strange, as if they weren’t the ones in command.

It reminded her of Black Swan and her resolve, although, unlike the new villains they’d been facing, she hadn’t gone down so easy. But for whatever reason, she’d fixed herself on Chat Noir and Ladybug and despite losing both her shoes and being knocked down countless times, continued to rise up, like a puppet on strings. It was like their new foes’ hardwiring had been overwritten and someone else had control. A mind-hacker, eating through to the inside of each victim. The way a moth ate through clothes.

They got bolder, throwing themselves in any danger the duo threw at them, just to get the stones. The fights were short, but the stakes higher. If Chat Noir would stop ignoring her, she’d have discussed it with him, but he continued in his new and reserved disposition.

At the end of the week was Medusa. She was short, beautiful, and her hair was made of, obviously, snakes. Marinette couldn’t exactly look at her too long, or in the eye. Half the block had already been turned to stone when she’d arrived. The statues stood stock-still, drenched as the drizzling clouds above collapsed into a downpour.

Marinette recognized her from her school. The snakes were usually dreads, though.

The girl made her way down the street, towards the bakery. Marinette searched for somewhere to duck out of the rain and transform, right as a bullet of black leather darted by her. Chat Noir.

He came to a halt right in front of her, “Marinette?!”

She glanced up at him through her lashes. Dear lord, how she wanted to kiss him, but the voice in her head stopped her, screaming, _Get your head together!_ Her family was in danger, she had no time for games.

“How are you doing?” He asked her, bobbing on his heels as the rain pitter-pattered on the pavement around them.

“How am _I_ doing? I don’t think that matters very much. Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, doing your job or something?” She instantly regretted her biting words. “Sorry, I mean, I’m- I’m fine, yeah.”

He smiled, “Glad to hear it, Princess, but yes, you’re right,” His smile turned into a frown, “I should probably get going.” He cast his eyes up towards the grey sky, and then down the road where Medusa had disappeared to.

Marinette looked to the ground. She was going crazy, driven insane by indecision. She might have spent the week vying for Chat’s attention rather than Adrien’s but her feelings for the latter still lingered and it was killing her.

But only one of them was standing here in front of her. Only one of them was talking to her now. And her chances with Adrien had, in her opinion, been shot.

Maybe it was time to finally make a choice.

She grabbed his hand before he could leave, “Wait, Chat.”

He turned back, a twinkle of hope in his eyes, and Marinette could swear she saw his lip upturn, just the tiniest bit, although maybe it was just a trick of the light or the rain. “Yes, Princess?”

“Um, I, uh…”

He tilted his head and drew closer, “Princess?”

She looked away, then down at his hand in hers, “I had a question,”

“And what would that be?”

“Well, I… um, you-” She bit down on her lower lip, staring at the concrete.

Adrien’s breathing slowed, his stomach tickled. He didn’t quite know what she wanted to ask but he knew where she was taking it and he wanted it bad. With his other hand, he gently lifted her chin so she’d look him in the yes, leant down, and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She melted into it, hands resting on his hips, his cupping her face ever-so-softly. She kept her eyes closed even as he pulled away, breathless.

“Does that answer your question, Princess?”

She tilted her head up, finally looking him in the eye, and smiled, “Yes.”

They fell into the alley at the side of the street. Adrien pinned her against the wall with his body. Their legs interlocked while their hands went wild. It was surreal, for Marinette at least. She realized she had never kissed anyone without her mask before.

 _He kisses so much like Adrien_ , she thought, _but… hungrier._

His own mind was wrapped up in similar thoughts. _She kisses like Ladybug but she’d so much more tender._

His gloved hand inched up her waist, thumb brushing over her ribs, the other one cradled her chin with such gentle care. Marinette gasped for breath and pulled him closer.

He pushed her harder up against the wall until she was lifted off the ground. “Is this okay?” He asked, his voice husky and breathless between each kiss.

Marinette’s eyes fluttered open. She nodded ardently and pulled him back in again, wrapping her legs around his waist while he hoisted her up, his hands clasped together at the base of her spine; a throne for a princess.

Her hands stroked his rain-soaked cheeks as he moved his head down, kissing at her dripping collarbone, her neck. The raindrops were cold, but he was the warmth she needed.

She’d have stayed there forever had the sound of an unnervingly familiar scream hadn’t broken the spell. They stopped, heads perking up at the sound. Marinette’s eyes grew wide, “Mom!”

Adrien stepped back allowing Marinette to drop to the ground and shoot off towards home. The rain felt like needles as she raced, the wind like ice.

Down the block, the bakery windows were shattered open, there was a mess of flour and batter all over the tiled floor. She skidded to a halt and jumped straight through the broken window, a shard of glass catching her on the leg. She didn’t care. Instead, she stood up, blood running from the new wound as she scanned the room.

Medusa was nowhere to be found. Her parents weren’t, however. Frozen into stone statues, her mother and father stood in the middle of the room, locked in an embrace. Their faces were permanently contorted into terrified expressions that chilled Marinette to the bone. They were staring right at her, as if they were consciously trapped inside the stone.

Marinette inched towards them, her mouth hung open, but unable to make a sound. She lifted one hand, ever so slowly, and reached out to touch them when something suddenly crashed and thudded on the floor above.

She turned around and raced upstairs. There was no one in the living room or kitchen, but their plates and bowls lay in broken fragments strewn across the floor. Her parent’s room remained empty as well. Aside form the squelching of her sopping wet shoes, it was deadly silent.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette edged up the stairs to her room. There, shuffling through the papers on her desk while her hair hissed, stood Medusa. She faced away from Marinette, but she knew the girl was aware of her when she rose to stand tall. Marinette closed her eyes before she could turn around.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” said Medusa, “It’s good to see you,” She could hear the smile in her voice, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Mari, why don’t you greet me with open eyes?”

“Don’t call me that,” Marinette said, her voice sharp.

“Call you what? Mari? Do people not call you that?”

“Not you.”

Medusa laughed over the hissing of her slithering, snaking hair. For someone so formidable, her voice was so honeyed and welcoming. Marinette almost wanted to do as she said. “Alright then, Marinette it is. Do you know why I’ve come, Marinette?”

Marinette couldn’t calm her racing heart, but she kept her breathing slow. She didn’t know this girl, the most words she’d ever spoken to her were “Excuse me,” if even that. If she frequented the bakery, Marinette had no clue, and even if she did, she wasn’t sure what that had to do with herself.

She prayed it wasn’t for the reason she thought. The obvious reason.

“Oh, I’m just kidding, you know exactly why I’m here. Open your eyes.”

Marinette wasn’t thinking, the command was too compelling, too assertive. She blinked her eyes open but immediately ducked her head down, avoiding the girl’s stilling gaze. In the glance she caught of her, she’d noticed the glowing purple butterfly floating over her face like a mask. This wasn’t Medusa she was talking to.

“Hawkmoth.” She said. It wasn’t a greeting so much as an acknowledgement.

“Ah, you’ve figured it out. Good. You’re certainly quicker than I was in figuring you out.” Medusa cackled. “I’m here for something of yours. If you give it over easy, I can let everything go. This girl, all the people she’s hurt… _your parents_.”

Marinette ground her molars together. What on earth could he even do? She’d beaten him every time before. “Yeah, right. I’m not falling for anything you try to pull.”

“You’d be surprised how convincing an offer I can make.”

“Convincing? More like manipulative. I think you’ll be the one surprised by invulnerable I am to your lies.”

The girl laughed. It echoed, like it wasn’t even her own voice, which, really, it wasn’t, “I’m not even asking for payment. In fact, the only price you’ll pay is if you choose not to submit.”

“I don’t plan on paying anything. You’ve never beaten me before. What makes you think you can beat me now? Will she turn me to stone?” Marinette laughed head tipping in the direction of the speaker, “Your puppets have tried before but it’s never worked.”

Another cackle, “Oh, but Marinette, you see, _those_ weren’t puppets. Those were people, I barely pulled any strings, they were doing all the work. And they failed. They were nothing, just tests. This?” The girl spun, “I’d call this a success. I have total control of her. Once she’d fallen into my hands, she was all mine. _This_ is a puppet.”

“A puppet who won’t stand a chance.”

“What are you going to do?” She asked. “You can’t transform, I’d stop you. What could you do? I’d take you down right here and now. And your partner will show up before long. I have the sneaking suspicion you’d prefer he didn’t find out who you are, is that right? Don’t answer.” Her voice grew sharp, “In that case, you don’t have much time. If you just hand over those earrings of yours, everything will go over smoothly. I have no interest in hurting you if I don’t have to.”

“You won’t have to. Like I said, I’ll stop you.”

The girl pursed her lips in amusement, “Tick tock, Marinette. You’re running out of time.”

Marinette took a deep breath, keeping her head down as low as she could. She wouldn’t admit it to her, obviously, but she was right, and the thumping sound of Chat Noir rushing in downstairs certainly didn’t help, either.

Medusa raised a brow, “Here he comes. Make a decision, Marinette. Make the right one. I wouldn’t want you to regret anything.”

Without thinking, Marinette raced past her, her eyes still fixed to the floor, and before Hawkmoth or Medusa or whoever the girl was could touch her, she jumped over her desk and crashed out the window.

As she fell through the air outside, she winced in pain, from the impact, the glass shards that scraped her arms, and the rain that showered down. But she didn’t have time to worry about that. She caught onto the bars of her parents window before she could fall any further, and smashed the glass in. Her hand turned numb as she climbed inside, just as she heard the sound of Chat Noir bursting through her door upstairs.

Adrien rushed into Marinette’s bedroom, terrified of what he might find. And rightly so, as he stumbled in to find Medusa, a broken window, and no Marinette in sight.

“What did you do to her?!” He yelled, running to the window to look outside, and breathing a heavy sigh of relief seeing no dead Marinette splat on the pavement below.

The girl hummed a laugh, but revealed none of the previous conversation, instead choosing to wordlessly engage Chat in battle.

Adrien knew better than to look up. Thinking as quickly as he could, he snatched a hand mirror off of Marinette’s desk and turned away from Medusa, swatting his stick to deflect her punches.

Downstairs, Marinette hurriedly transformed, heart pounding as loudly as the falling rain, and flung herself back out the window and up to her own room. There was no time to worry about what could happen. She landed back inside, tumbling over her desk and past the two that already occupied the room. Looking up to find Chat hopping up the stairs to her loft, she picked herself off the ground and dusted herself off. Chat, using her bed as a leaping ground, sprang off of it and towards Medusa, who was turned away.

Medusa twirled around instantly at the sound.

Marinette screamed, “Chat!” Pulling his attention away just in time for him to avoid the girl’s gaze. He somersaulted to the ground and jumped back up.

“Are you oka-”

Her question was cut off as Adrien barked, “Marinette! Go find her, she’s in danger!”

“But-!”

“No!” Chat ordered, gripping his baton tightly in both hands as he defended himself, “She’s priority number one!”

Marinette breathed heavy. Yeesh, he was stubborn. Not that it didn’t flatter her, of course, but then again, his attraction to Marinette was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. She knew her place was helping Chat Noir, it wasn’t like Marinette had disappeared, but he didn’t know that. So instead, she nodded begrudgingly and jumped through the trapdoor on her floor, heading downstairs tot he bakery.

Even though it shouldn’t have surprised her, the sight of her frozen parents still made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Goosebumps prickled her arms. Were they awake in there? Unable to move? Could they see her right now?

The questions remained unanswered as Chat Noir and Medusa tumbled down the stairs after her in a tussle.

Medusa landed on top of him, he struggled to look away, but she held his head straight, pinning his hands to the ground with her knees. She looked up to grin right at Marinette, an expression that sent a chill down her spine. It made her feel naked.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? You guys always do, what is wrong with you?!” Chat, still doing his best to keep from looking her in the eye, grunted.

“I’m not too worried about those matters right now,” Medusa glanced back down at him with a smile.

He shut his eyes tight. “Ladybug? A little help here?”

Marinette realized she’d just been standing there. She lunged towards Medusa, eyes closed, and tackled her to the ground, setting Chat free. He slid to his feet and stroked his sore hands, smirking as he picked his baton off the ground.

Medusa thrashed against Marinette’s weight as she pressed her into the wall. Marinette let her go and ducked just in time for Chat to run up behind her and land a hit, knocking Medusa to the ground.

“Any ideas?” he asked her, and it filled Marinette with joy to hear him addressing her without harsh words or silence for the first time that week.

“Not a clue,” She replied, sparing a glance at her parents. It pained her so much not to react. To them, to him, to Hawkmoth or Medusa; but she needed to keep it together.

He groaned, “Sounds like the usual sort of thing.”

Marinette shrugged.

Their moment of relaxation didn’t last long. Medusa stirred in the corner of the room, hunched over but moving. A moan of pain split through her lips as a butterfly akuma mask flickered over her face and finally quieted as the mask stilled. She shot back up, “The shell is weak but I’m the one in control and I won’t go down so easily.”

Marinette didn’t bother to check Chat’s confused reaction, she sprinted forward in an all-out attack before Medusa or Hawkmoth or whoever was speaking could say any more. Throwing punch after punch, a kick to her side, her shins, Marinette went non-stop. Her opponent was clearly in pain, stumbling and fumbling and folding this way and that, but she kept getting back up. She clawed at Marinette’s face, going for the earrings, or maybe to hold it in place so she could turn her to stone; it didn’t matter. All Marinette wanted was to stop her.

Chat Noir joined the fray at her side, adding his baton to the mix, though he held back in comparison to Marinette. “Aren’t you being a little too aggressive?” He asked her between attacks.

She scowled, shaking her head no, and tossed him a silvery platter from the counter to use as a mirror.

Though she avoided Medusa’s gaze, she caught the girl’s eyes darting back and forth in her periphery, but didn’t have time to react before Medusa leapt between the two of them, rather than engage them further, and dive for something else entirely.

Her parents.

“NO!” Marinette cried out, flying after her, but not in time. Medusa charged towards the statues and slammed straight into them, sending them shattering to the ground into a million tiny pieces.

Marinette broke into a wail, dropping to her knees to collect the fragments as if that would magically repair anything.

Chat leapt forward, but here was no reason to attack; the force of the hit had knocked Medusa unconscious. She lay on the floor alongside Marinette and the stone shards.

“What are you doing? We have to find the akuma!” Adrien pressed, turning back to Ladybug.

She stared at her knees, her vision slowly blurring. She couldn’t even hear him until she felt his hand on her shoulder, “Lady? Lady?! Ladybug?!” His voice pierced the white noise buzzing through her ears.

She grimaced, her face warping into an expression of impassioned ferocity. Heaving herself forward, she lashed out at Medusa’s fallen body, only to meet the bottom of her foot.

Her head snapped up, her body sent soaring back to where she’d jumped from. Medusa slowly stood back up, her movements awkward and broken; like an actual puppet. When she looked back up, her eyes weren’t even open, she was still unconscious. _“I told you, Ladybug, she’s not the one in control._ ” A voice echoed around them, but not from Medusa’s own mouth.

Marinette shivered as Chat Noir leant down to help her up. Both of them were unable to peel their eyes away as the girl danced forward in a graceless attack.

Marinette dodged out of the way while Chat Noir ducked in the other direction. Seething, she swung back towards Medusa again, this time managing to side-step her kick, but still not able to land a hit.

Chat Noir seemed unbothered once the initial chill of Medusa’s creepy non-voice had subsided, but Marinette had yet to recover. The memory of her parents fracturing into pieces kept playing in her mind.

“Hey, at least we don’t have to worry about looking at her anymore?” Chat yipped.

Medusa’s eyes flashed open at his words, though only the whites could be seen as they rolled back in their sockets.

“I spoke to soon,” Chat groaned, “Is it her eyes or her pupils that we can’t look at?”

“Let’s not test either.” Marinette huffed, pushing past him to meet Medusa in the center of the room. They scuffled over the scattered remains of the Dupain-Chengs and the water spraying in through the broken window.

Adrien yanked Ladybug back by the pigtail, smacking Medusa out of the way with his baton, “Stop! It’s not worth it, just use Lucky Charm!”

“I-I ca...” She panted.

He gripped her by the shoulders and lifted her face up to look at him, “My lady, please?” He snapped his fingers, “Stop looking at them.”

She tore her eyes from the dust of her parents.

“Look at me. _Look at me_. Good. If you beat her, you can bring them back, but you can’t beat her if you don’t use your powers.”

Marinette still couldn’t bring words to her mouth, but her thoughts did clear a little.

“Revenge isn’t going to fix anything. It’s not even her fault, it’s the akuma.”

 _It’s Hawkmoth_. But she nodded anyway.

Before Medusa could recover, she summoned lucky charm. A small mirror landed in her palm.

Chat rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, we already have mirror,” He tapped his shiny platter, “How’s another one supposed to help us?”

“I don’t think it’s for us.” Marinette spoke.

Medusa jolted back to her feet and lurched forward, “Ladybug, I’m not done with you yet!” Said the eerie voice.

Marinette bolted straight at her and held up the mirror in front of her face.

Medusa froze, her body turning to stone in an instant before a shriek could even emit from her lips. A single barrette clipped into her hair remained and clattered to the floor. Marinette stomped on it as hard as she could and yanked the butterfly that flew out of it by its wings right out of midair.

“What are you doing?” Chat asked her.

She didn’t answer, opting only to stare at it as it struggled between her fingertips. It felt heavier than she expected, as if all the sorrows and darkness it carried somehow added to its weight. It occurred to her how easy it would be to crush. Just like how easily her parents had clattered to stone pieces.

“Ladybug, no, whatever it is you’re thinking, don’t do it. It’s not worth it. In fact, it will probably only make things worse.”

She pressed her lips together and sighed releasing the tiny thing from her grip and catching it the proper way before releasing it again, this time purified.

Medusa, or whoever the girl actually was, transformed back into a normal, flesh-and-bone girl and collapsed on the floor, hugging herself.

Marinette knelt down before her. She knew it wasn’t this girl’s fault, but looking at her face, she felt nothing but hate, but not for the poor girl. For Hawkmoth. She’d kill him if she had to.

“Are you alright?” She asked her, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

She shot up and screamed at her touch, scrambling back to get away, cutting herself on the glass-covered floor.

Adrien held up his hands and inched forward, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you.”

She stopped once her back hit the opposite wall, and curled into a ball.

Marinette crept closer, “What did he do to you? That wasn’t you, right?”

“I-I-” The girl squeaked, her voice barely even a whisper.

“Yes?”

“I d-don’t remember anything, but...” She looked up from her knees and straight into Marinette’s eyes. Straight _through_ Marinette, really. it gave her goosebumps, “B-but it was terrible, l-like a n-nightmare! I had no c-control of my...” Her words faded and she burst into tears.

Chat dropped to his knees and hugged the girl, stroking her hair, a comforting tone in his voice, “It’s alright now, you’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you now.”

The girl wept, clinging to Adrien like he were a life-preserver and she was stranded at sea.

They waited until she had finally stopped shaking and sent her home. she declined the offer of an escort; Chat hadn’t used Cataclysm and therefore had the time, and went on her way.

Adrien turned back to Ladyug, who still sat on the floor. She held in her hands, a piece of the rubble from the fight.

“You can fix it now,” Chat said.

She closed her eyes. After a fight like that, one would think she’d have calmed down, but the chatter in her mind was as loud as the storm outside. The distraction of a fight and of Hawkmoth’s taunts gone, she now had the time to think about everything at once.

Where did her parents go? Were they actually dead? Could they feel it when it....?

She shuddered and stood up, but failed to shake the thoughts from her head. Instead, she picked the fallen mirror from the ground, and with one final glance to the stone piece in her hand, threw the lucky charm into the air and yelled the usual words.

Marinette shut her eyes tight and braced herself. She couldn’t bare to look and she was terrified of what might not be there when she did. She could have stood there for an eternity but Chat Noir’s familiar hand rested on her shoulder and she knew she had to open her eyes.

There were her parents, perfectly unharmed and smiling wide. Her mother looked so impressed to see Ladybug, her father was grinning from ear-to-ear, and Chat, off to the side, was smiling as well. He gave her a pat and whispered in her ear, “I knew you could do it.” Then stood up straight, “Well, that’s all settled.” He gave Ladybug and the Dupain-Chengs a hasty salute and dashed out the repaired door. He had someone he wanted to find.

Marinette’s earrings blinked, only a minute left and here she was, standing directly in front of her parents. They looked eager to talk to her, but she couldn’t waste any time. She gave them a nervous smile and a wave goodbye and ran out the door, after Chat, yo-yoing up to her window once she was out of sight and landing on her balcony just in time.

After jumping through the hatch and onto her bed, she crumpled up, turning on her side, and screamed as loud as she could into her pillow, leaving a sizable spit stain when she removed her head. Tikki propped herself up on another pillow and raised a brow, “Marinette...?”

Marinette seethed through her teeth and flipped back onto her back. Her fingertips pulled at the skin on her cheeks and around her eyes. She looked tired, really tired. “Yes, Tikki?” 

“Are you alright?”

“No, not at all,” She said in a sarcastically chipper voice.

“Marinette, they’re alright now, they don’t even remember what happened.”

Tikki barely had time to float off of it before Marinette grabbed the pillow she sat on and covered her face with it to scream again.

“That’s the thing, Tikki.” She said, tossing the pillow down the loft once she was done with it, “It doesn’t matter that they don’t remember it happened; it still happened.”

“Marinette-”

“No.” Marinette groaned, “They died-- they didn’t just die, they were _destroyed_ \-- and if I hadn’t been able to beat Medusa or Hawkmoth or whoever-- not to mention, he knows who I am, now-- I just... I’m scared and confused and,” She faltered, her tone dropping low, “What if, Tikki? They’d be gone. And it would be my fault.”

“No it wouldn’t-”

“Yes, it would!” Marinette thrashed her legs around, kicking her covers off the bed in her tantrum, and raking her hands through her hair, “If I hadn’t gotten so distracted by... by _him_ , ugh!”

“Hawkmoth?”

“No, Chat Noir!” She scraped her bangs off her forehead, “I hate him! I hate myself! I hate myself for not hating him; not enough at least!”

Tikki gave her a confused look, “Marinette, you don’t hate him-”

She cut her off once again, “ _Yes_ , I do. It’s _his_ fault. _He_ distracted me.”

Eyes shifting away, Tikki said, “Marinette, he didn’t distract you, it’s not like you didn’t... kiss him ba-”

“Don’t say it!” Marinette threw her last pillow in Tikki’s direction, which she narrowly dodged with a yelp.

“Marinette!”

“Sorry, Tikki, just... I don’t know,” Her voice soured, “But I know whatever I have with him needs to stop. This never happened with Adrien.”

“What are you talking about? It happened all the time.”

“Shush!”

“But Mari-”

“No, being with Adrien wasn’t anywhere near as emotionally taxing as this, not to mention I was never as distracted by him. I guess leather spandex just... never mind, I’m not finishing that sentence.” She rolled over, facing her wall and away from Tikki, “Everything with Chat was just a mistake. We’re better as partners, not... _partners_.”

“And what about Hawkmoth?” Asked Tikki, figuring it best to drop the subject of Marinette’s affections.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “He... is a problem for another day. I can’t imagine he’ll send a new akuma until tomorrow. He’s desperate, not crazy.” She pursed her lips, “He’s not crazy, is he?”

Tikki hovered close, dropping in front of Marinette’s face, “I told you, Marinette, what he’s doing throws everything out of balance, everything that miraculouses and us kwami are meant to keep in order. In all likelihood, his actions are, yes, a result of madness. He’s got total control of his akumas and victims, now, which means he is a more focused threat. He’s stripped them of their autonomy, something a user of his miraculous cannot do without first slipping down his twisted path, which can only mean he’s close to reaching the point of no return.”

There was no pillow nearby this time, so she just rolled over and screamed into the mattress, it was the only thing left. “I’m not even an adult! I can’t even _drive_ yet! Why do I have to handle this?!”

“Because you were chosen, Marinette.”

“Chosen?! Chosen by who?!” The question was rhetorical but Tikki looked ready to reply.

Had she been paying any attention to her surroundings, Marinette might have noticed the odd look on Tikki’s face, as if she were ready to confess something, but this was Marinette, so she wasn’t. “I’ll deal with it later.” She sighed. “For now, I need to handle Chat. And Adrien. And myself, ugh.”

Tikki brightened up, “Just follow your heart, Marinette.”

“You see, that’s what I did though. When I... when I kissed Chat, I thought that was exactly what I was doing; following my heart and making a decision, but now here I am an hour later and I’m just as indecisive as I was before!” She turned over and clapped her hands over her face, “Okay, now I understand what Adrien was saying. Being, ‘conflicted,’ or whatever. God, this is so stupid, I should have just told him who I was when he asked.”

“So then you’re picking Adrien?”

“I...” Marinette stared up at her ceiling, a million images of Chat Noir filling her head. It made her stomach flip just to think of his face. His eyes and their striking gaze, the one that sent shivers down her back, his lips and how soft they were, the way his hands pressed and pushed and melded and held her close, _god_ what was she thinking?! He was just a distraction. Literally. If it hadn’t been for him, she would have just transformed and her parents would never have gone through what they’d gone through. She could have shut down Hawkmoth in time and that poor girl...

He was a massive mistake in every sense of the word. Why she’d ever thought he was the right choice was beyond her. There wasn’t even a choice in the first place. She’d always loved Adrien. No question.

 

* * *

 

 

The rain had cleared, for the most part, though many grey clouds still lingered in the sky above. Adrien zipped down the streets, still suited up, his mind fixed on one thing. Or one person, rather.

 _Marinette_. His heart pulsed and his feet pounded and splashed through the puddles to the beat of her name. _Mar-i-nette. Mar-i-nette. Mar-i-nette._

Was she okay? What had happened with her and Medusa? Why was her window broken when he’d entered her room? And where had she disappeared to?

She hadn’t been turned to stone, that much was clear, so what had happened? If she’d been hurt or something, Ladybug’s healing powers should have placed her right back at her house or in the alley before she’d run off. They usually reset everything to exactly where it needed to be, or at the very least to some state of normalcy. That’s what bothered him. When she’d thrown that mirror into the air, the Dupain-Chengs were brought back, but Marinette? She didn’t come rushing down the stairs or though the door. She’d vanished.

When he’d reached her room, earlier, and seen Medusa and the shattered window, his stomach had dropped a thousand stories. He thought she was dead. But instead, she was just gone. Was she looking for him? Her parents? Had something else happened to her?

He just needed to know, needed to be sure she was safe.

Stacked on top of his fears was his renewed affection for Ladybug. He’d been doing his best to let it die, swearing she just wasn’t worth it, but goddamn, she was beautiful. Watching her fight was a heaven-sent blessing and despite his raging fears for Marinette he’d, at the exact same time, been admiring his Lady.

It only added to the reasons he hated himself, but at this point, he was starting to realize, it didn’t matter. He was going to hate himself forever. Everyone hated him, right? So why not himself?

Marinette didn’t hate him, he knew that. And Ladybug? Well, according to Marinette, people only act the way Ladybug had when they cared, so clearly, no matter how mad she had been, there was still something in her that loved him, right? And she cared about Chat-him, her partner, so that was something.

He shook his head. _Think about something else._ He wanted to, but he couldn’t. The girls were the only thing his mind could focus on, and even then the focus wasn’t particularly... well, _focused_.

He reached the alley where they had kissed, nothing. Further down, still nothing. After a long while of running, he finally doubled back. Maybe she’d gone home?

By the time he reached her house, it was getting dark. The sun still lit up the clouded, white horizon with a faint gold, but the first stars had peeked from behind the overcast sky above. As he watched the sky, he noticed movement from up on Marinette’s balcony.

And there she was. Perfectly safe and sound. Her body leant up against the rails, her arms resting on it, one leg bent as she relaxed. She looked so beautiful, it took his breath away. He wanted to be her Romeo down below her, but he knew how that story ended. No use tempting fate, not with his luck.

She stared into the sky, eyes gazing at the moon as it rose between the cracks in the clouds. The rails were still wet and glossy from the rain, water stains spreading over her shirt where it touched, but she didn’t seem to care. She was as lost in thought as he was.

She’d almost lost her parents today. And he could have almost lost her. It occurred to him the danger she’d be placed in by seeing him and all the horrible ways that could end. She was too clumsy for her own good, eventually she’d get hurt; one way or another. Gazing up at her, he yearned to touch her again, for her to touch him, to feel the tickle of her hair on his face when they kissed.

But he was a superhero, a guardian. It was his job to be responsible, right? Keeping the city safe meant keeping her safe, too.

And he had his first love to worry about. Just weeks ago, he’d been absolutely assured in his love for Ladybug, he swore Marinette could never turn his head, and yet here he was.

It just wasn’t worth it. She’d get injured, or worse. And he could never forgive himself. He couldn’t let her end up like his mother.

Her couldn't let himself end up like his father.

Adrien knew what he needed to do. But he couldn’t make himself do it tonight.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he’d break off whatever the hell was going on between himself and Marinette. Ladybug could be his one and only.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooohooohooohooooooooo  
> ahahaha you thought you were getting some nice marichat nah, son,  
> so I was right, these are the final chapters. I just finished the first part of it and I'll hopefully have it up next week. You guys don't know how excited I am. I know most people read and write and watch for fluff and romantic angst, and while i love reading and watching that, writing it is honestly a pain. BUT. These next parts are what I've been crazy excited about writing omggggg
> 
>  
> 
> In other news, guess what piece of lit we were assigned to read for my last english project? Just fucking guess.  
> Mother. Fucking. Hamlet.  
> I'm like... I already know everything about it because of all the goddamn research I did. For a fanfiction. I hate myself lmao
> 
> edit: also, I forgot to mention, thanks to my sis bc she came up with the awesome akuma idea for Medusa. Some backstory on her: some racists assholes made fun of her for her dreads, which lead to her becoming Medusa (of course, after that, hawkmoth took complete control of her :( )


	12. A Stroke of Misfortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decisions are carried through, at least part of the way. One knows what they are, not what they will become.

Fortune, a strumpet, screwed over everyone in school the following day.  
  
Marinette jittered and bounced between bated breaths at she counted down the minutes on the clock. Today was their final day to work on their project in class and she was stuck spending the entire period right next to Adrien. It was driving the two of them insane.  
  
She could barely say a word through her grit teeth; before the end of the day, she would tell him and he finally would know who she really was.

Adrien, though, languished in her presence, dreading as the clock ticked down to the end of the day. Once it rang, he’d transform and end it with Marinette.

They barely spoke, each too wrapped up in their own anxieties to bother conversing. They might have noticed had they not been preoccupied with their respective plans for the afternoon. Which wasn’t helping them finish their project in the least. Sure, most of the costumes, Marinette had finished; and the presentation, Adrien had done the majority of. But, now all that was left was Marinette’s detailed analysis, and, much to the chagrin of both of them, she had yet to even start it.

Their conversation, even more stilted than the awkward small-talk they’d engaged in before becoming friends, consisted of short sentences and even shorter replies, all sparsely distributed throughout the period.

“What are you going to write about?” Started Adrien.

“Not sure.”

They stayed quiet for a while, just staring at their desks and pretending to look through folders and papers in order to look busy. Marinette thumbed through her copy of the text, her eyes never truly resting on a page, as if gazing at it would somehow help her absorb it. She considered laying it out on her desk and taking a nap on it. Maybe she’d learn it via osmosis?

_No, that’s stupid. Stop being stupid and just talk to him._

She didn’t talk to him.

Ten minutes later, Adrien tried again, “Why don’t you pick a character and write about them?

“Who?”

He pursed his lips, “I don’t know,” He replied, his tone detached.

Once again they hushed. Five minutes later, this time, after reading through the character list, Marinette piped up, “How about Ophelia?”

“How about her?”

Marinette paused, “How about I write about her?” _Duh._

He shrugged. They turned in opposite directions, avoiding each other’s eyes. Despite the chatter of all their classmates working around them, their worlds remained silent.

After another noiseless five minutes, Adrien shuffled through his papers and slid a selection across the table. “Here.”

She picked them up; Ophelia’s lines in the play. “Thanks.” She said dryly.

She read each one carefully and couldn’t decide whether she resented Ophelia or pitied her. The girl had no agency, no autonomy, and no personality outside of plain-old-niceness; just a helpless victim of her lover’s indecisive wiles. Marinette could relate to that last part, but was she helpless? Not even close. At least, that’s what she hoped of herself. One knows what they are but not what they will become.

She examined one of the first passages.

  
_Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!—_  
_The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword,_  
_Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state,_  
_The glass of fashion and the mould of form,_  
_Th' observed of all observers, quite, quite down!_

_(See A/N for No Fear translations)_

  
_Yikes._ Thought Marinette. _She thinks way too highly of this dude. He’s kind of a tool._

  
_And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,_  
_That sucked the honey of his music vows,_  
_Now see that noble and most sovereign reason_  
_Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;_  
_That unmatched form and feature of blown youth_  
_Blasted with ecstasy. Oh, woe is me,_  
_T' have seen what I have seen, see what I see!_

  
She rolled her eyes, continuing through the other excerpts and writing notes.

  
_While the forefront of the play is Hamlet’s indecisiveness having caught him between various qualms over revenging his father, Ophelia, in the background deals with a similar problem. Stuck between heeding her father’s contradictory words and dealing with Hamlet, she is unable to unify her identity. Her family wants her to be chaste and stay away from the prince, while Hamlet, having grown into a misogynist resulting from his resentment of his mother’s actions, sees her only as a whore. Expected to be a perfect maiden and follow what she is told to be, from everyone, she cannot. After the death of her father at the hands of her love, she devolves into a state of madness, one that, unlike Hamlet’s, is real, not feigned._

That sounded smart enough, right? There were more lines to read:

_There is a willow grows aslant a brook,_  
_That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;_  
_There with fantastic garlands did she come_  
_Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples_  
_That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,_  
_But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:_  
_There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds_  
_Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;_  
_When down her weedy trophies and herself_  
_Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;_  
_And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:_  
_Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;_  
_As one incapable of her own distress,_  
_Or like a creature native and indued_  
_Unto that element: but long it could not be_  
_Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,_  
_Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay_  
_To muddy death._

It bothered Marinette that Ophelia’s suicide is only described and never actually seen in the play. She was robbed of everything, even the one choice that was finally her own, described only in passing by the queen. Was suicide a _good_ option? Certainly not, but Ophelia had been driven insane. To her, it seemed like the _only_ option; the only way out of a life too traumatic and impossible to live in. A way to escape a doomed future. Perhaps she hadn’t been as helpless and as crazy as Marinette had originally thought she was. Perhaps she wasn’t crazy at all.

Marinette handed her notes to Adrien, “Do you think this is good?”

He glanced at the paper and nodded, “Yeah, sure.”

She scowled, “You didn’t even look at it.”

He waved his hand, still unable to look her in the eye, “I’m sure it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

Marinette sighed a heavy sigh and stared at her paper, pinching her wrist hard and focusing on the pain to avoid from blowing up at him. What was his problem?!

“The flowers. You could talk about the flowers, I guess.” Adrien said quietly.

She breathed and shut her eyes tight before answering “The flowers?”

“She hands out flowers to everyone before she dies, they all symbolize something.”

Nodding, Marinette relaxed, “Okay, I can work with that.” She delved back into the passages, searching for the lines he was referring to.

  
_There's rosemary, that's for remembrance._  
_Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies,_  
_that's for thoughts._  
_There's fennel for you, and columbines._  
_There's rue for you; and here's some for me; we_  
_may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. You must wear your_  
_rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would_  
_give you some violets, but they withered all_  
_when my father died._

Marinette continued her notes.

_Though it is not specified in the script, each flower Ophelia gifts the royal court goes to a specific person based on its symbolic meaning. Rosemary is speculated to go to her brother, Laertes, having returned from France for their father’s funeral. She tells him to remember; to remember their father, and who she used to be._

Marinette never knew what it was like to lose someone so close to you. Her parents had always been there, ever-present and ever-loving. She risked a glance to Adrien and wondered what he remembered of his own mother. Whether she’d died or been kidnapped or just plain left, Marinette had no clue. But it must have hurt him. It must have hurt Gabriel, too, to remember.

_The fennel, columbines, and rue all go to the king and queen, but which goes to which is not quite certain as both fennel and columbines can represent different things, both associated with attributes of the king and queen. The fennel, representing lies, flattery, and power, most likely goes to King Claudius, who has lied about how he attained the throne; by killing his brother, Hamlet’s father. The columbine, however, most likely goes to Queen Gertrude. The flowers stand as a symbol for the infidelity of her marrying her late husband’s conniving brother. The rue goes to the queen as well, but Ophelia also takes some for herself. The meaning here can be disputed. The rue could be a symbol of adultery, once again connecting to the queen, but it also represents regret, sorrow, and bitterness, as in the regret Gertrude feels over marrying the new king, and of course, the regret and the sadness Ophelia herself feels over her love for Hamlet. This digression of meanings makes sense, as Ophelia insults the queen by telling her to wear her rue differently from her, as Ophelia herself is chaste and faithful._

_Wow, that’s a whole lot of words,_ Marinette grimaced. She hated to admit how much she related to the feeling of regret, and even worse, the infidelity, but she cleared the thought from her mind. That would all be over this afternoon. Maybe then, the gross feeling that had been creeping over her body all day would finally disappear.

_Ophelia also holds a daisy, symbolizing innocence, and its impassive mention symbolizing, the loss of it. And finally, she lists violets, which she has none of, claiming they all wilted with the death of her father. Violets, representing integrity, honesty, and faithfulness having died along with those concepts, and the absence of both being pointed out by Ophelia is the final jab she throws at the court. Despite being completely raving mad, it still seems that maybe, somewhere deep in her, she still holds just a smidgeon of lucidity inside herself. Even though she can barely comprehend the events happening around her, she still knows what they do to her, and what they do to those that surround her._

She wrote in silence for the rest of the period, taking notes and annotating each of Ophelia’s excerpts. As the period neared its end, they wordlessly returned to their seats, feet tapping, hearts thumping, as Madame Bustier assigned their homework.

 _I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it. Just... deep breaths, Marinette, deep breaths._ Marinette sat frozen in her seat, staring down at the time on her phone and watching the minutes tick by. One more left. One more before the bell would ring and she would go tell Adrien she was in love with him. She’d tell him she was Ladybug.

She’d never have to see Chat again, not as Marinette, at least. She could just be happy and dandy and stay with Adrien and if she was lucky, he’d wouldn’t even care that it was her behind the mask. He loved her either way, he promised it himself. And he deserved to know.

But all that reassurance couldn’t make her heart stop racing, and boy did it race. Her mind was the track and her heart wanted the gold in this marathon. Her stomach was off in the the field doing somersaults and flips over the vault. Tikki was in the stands, cheering for her.

Well, actually, Tikki was quietly sleeping in her bag, but that was besides the point.

Now if only she could actually do exactly what she wanted to do. _Just say the words, that’s all you need to do. You don’t even need to stick around to see his reaction, you can just run away, no big deal._ She smacked herself on the forehead, _No don’t do that, that’s stupid!_

Alya gave her a look from her desk, “You okay there, hon?”

“Yeah, I’m just... nervous.”

“About the final exam? You’ll be fine. Aren’t you excited? We’re almost free for the summer!” She gave her a pat on the back.

Marinette glanced out the window at the rumbling storm outside, “Yeah, some summer.” She mumbled with dead eyes.

“Don’t look like that! It’ll pass. Storms always do. And then it will be nice and sunny again.”

Marinette shrugged and rested her head, holding her phone up so she could continue to stare and psyche herself out, though she swore it was just working herself up, like a pep-talk before the game. A pep-talk where she pep-talked herself out of doing anything at all.

The bell rang and before Madame Bustier could get a final word in, the class had disappeared. Marinette stood, with heavy feet and an even heavier stomach, and, with as much courage as she could manage, slowly made her way out of the classroom.

Out in the courtyard, students bustled about this way and that. Across the street, she spotted Alya with Nino, but Adrien was nowhere to be found.

Except, that is, by the alley down the street. With a deep breath and a gulp, he released Plagg from his shirt pocket and transformed. He would let her down easy, but be quick about it. No time to waste he thought as he ducked out from his cover and strolled back towards Francois-Dupont. There weren’t as many kids now that the school had cleared out, all of whom had frantically made their way home before the rains could start up again. The small few left that spotted him gaped, and he just smiled and waved in return.

Marinette crossed the street, her neck stretched and eyes peeled for any sign of Adrien. She fidgeted with her bag where Tikki was waiting, her breath quickening and hands growing clammy. Come on, Marinette, you can do this, she assured herself. But as soon as she caught sight of Chat Noir, her hopes drained.

 _Why does_ he _have to be here?! And now of all times?!_

He bowed as he reached her, ignoring the onlookers that stopped to watch. “My princess.”

Marinette pressed her lips together and did her best not to look at him too long. She couldn’t risk him messing this up for her

“How are you?” He continued, but she didn’t answer. “Marinette? I have something I need to talk to you about.”

She was having none of it, “Not now, Chat.” She said, batting him away and peering around him.

“What are you doing? No-- wait-- listen, we need to talk.”

“Shh!” Marinette pushed past him, her annoyance growing by the minute, “I’m looking for someone.”

“Marinette, please. Look, I think... I think we should break off... whatever it is we’re doing. You said you’ve got a boyfriend and I, well, I have a girlfriend and-”

She shushed him a second time, placing a hand to his lips, but not even looking in his direction.

He gently moved her hand away and continued, “And well, I think it would be best if we just stopped seeing each other and-”

Marinette groaned, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, sure.” She said, her irritation worsening, “I was going to say the same thing. Are you done yet?” She was growing impatient. She’d spent all day working up the courage to do this, she couldn’t waste it on a lost cause like Chat.

Adrien’s brow furrowed. Wait a second, wasn’t it _her_ who had, _just yesterday_ , stopped _him_ just so they could make out?

“I don’t think you understand,” He stammered.   
“No, I understand just fine, thanks. Now, if you’re done?” She fanned her hands away in a motion telling him to leave.

He flushed red, “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused,” She continued to walk past him, doing her best to stay calm as he tried to catch up. “Look, Chat, it’s cool, whatever. You’re right. We shouldn’t see each other. Now, please get out of my way, I need to find someone.” Her heart hummed. Not much longer and all of this would be smoothed over and perfect.

“What, am I not even good enough for you to listen when I break up with you?”

“Did you think I’d be upset?”

“Well I’m definitely a little irritated that you’d rather go looking for someone else.”

She shrugged him off, “Hey, it’s not my fault that I had the sense to have already come to this conclusion last night. I just had the maturity not to say anything or cause a scene. I thought you had the same, but I guess I was wrong.”

“A scene?” Adrien scoffed. Who was _she_ to say these things? While he had come here to let her down easy and be kind about breaking it all off, she had already gotten over him within a night?

“The one you’re making right now?”

“I’m not making a scene!” He argued.

Marinette raised a brow, “Really? It certainly seems like you are. And now we’ve got people watching.” She rolled her eyes, “Come on, look, you said what you needed to say. I’m glad we’re on the same page here, it’s cool, but can you go now?”

Adrien was dismayed, but unable to reply. The words wouldn’t come to his mouth. And here he’d thought Marinette could do no wrong. No, not sweet, sweet Marinette.

But she was just like everyone else, wasn’t she? She didn’t need him. Why had he ever bothered with her? Marinette over _Ladybug_? What a joke.

“Okay then, forget it.” He stormed down the street. What was the point? She clearly had more important things than him to bother with. After hiding back behind the building, he detransformed, stuffing Plagg back into his shirt, and turned back around the corner and down the street. When he reached the school, he hurried past Marinette but she called out his name.

“Adrien!”

He whipped back around, a scowl on his face, “What?! He snapped.

Marinette recoiled. Had she done something wrong?

It occurred to him that she had no clue why he’d reacted like that. It’s not like she knew who he was, and though he wanted to yell, to rage at her, he knew better. He sighed and stepped towards her, “Sorry, Marinette, what’s up.”

Staring down at her bag, her fingers fiddled with the snap as she walked towards him. But, not looking up, she tripped into his chest. Her cheeks blushed hard as he picked her up. “Sorry, sorry.” She stuttered.

He managed a false laugh and a smile, dusting her shoulders off for her. God why did it hurt so much to look at her?

“I...” She started, “I have something I need to tell you.”

Adrien pursed his lips. Was it _him_ _self_ that she had been looking for?

“Adrien, I...” She took a deep breath and mustered what little bravery she still had left, “I think I’m in love with you. Actually, I’m sure I’m in love with you. Ever since you gave me your umbrella I’ve been in love with you and, well, I just... I needed to tell you because I’m-”

His breath lurched. He cut her off, moving away from her and shaking his head, “Wait, what?”

“I love you.”

“You... you what?!” Didn’t she have a boyfriend? He’d already felt terrible for kissing her, and now, despite the fact that she was in a relationship _and_ she had kissed Chat, here she was, confessing her love to _him_? How absurd! “Are you kidding me right now?” He demanded.

“What?”

“You love me?”

“Yes, that’s what I said, and I needed to tell you that I’m-”

“No.” He silenced her, “I don’t care.” He didn’t know what to say, the words wouldn’t come to him, “How could you...? What do you...?” With a bitter laugh, he backed away further, “I can’t believe I...”

Marinette stepped towards him, her face earnest, a lump forming in her throat, “Adrien, please, you don’t understand. I’m La-”

“I’m in love with someone else.” He blurted, his face curled into a sneer, “I could never love you.” The words tasted sour in his mouth.  
  
His body hurt, his mind hurt. He’d been toyed with, played like a joke. There was nothing else to say to her. Only one thing could say it all for him. He glared down at his wrist, and with a resentful sigh, unwrapped the lucky charm bracelet she had given to him and thrust it towards her. “Here. Take it back. I don’t think it works.”

Marinette didn’t know how to react. Out of every scenario and reaction she had predicted, this was the only one she’d never imagined. Not these words, or the hateful look on his face. Certainly not the bracelet.  
  
Her heart felt empty and heavy at the same time. It wasn’t pounding anymore, no, it had stopped completely. Her gut ached like it had been hit by a wrecking ball. Her stomach was no longer plagued by a butterfly, but instead filled with an army of them, flapping frantically, every single one trying to escape up her throat all at once. Her legs shook and her lip quivered. It felt like her body was tearing itself apart; like it wanted to run off in every direction.

So this was the truth. He would never love her for who she really was. She stared down at the charm in her hands and everything it represented and before the flooding dam that was her eyes could break and the tears could burst, she bit her lip and tore down the road towards home, never looking back.  
  
She didn’t want to see his face. She didn’t want to see the look in his eyes.

Instead, she faced forward and sprinted home, slamming the door open and shut without a word to her parents. What was there to say? She soared up the stairs, into her room and up onto her balcony, right as the heavens above opened up again and the rain started pouring.

Her face streamed; from the storm or tears, she wasn’t quite sure. Hurling her now-drenched bag onto the chaise, she bit her hand to stifle her cries and sunk against the railings of her balcony, dropping her head into her knees. She sobbed, her cracked wails nearly impossible to hear over the thunder above. So caught up in her tears and her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice Tikki creep up beside her.

“M-marinette?” the kwami whispered.

“Go away, Tikki.”

“Marinette, are you alright?”

Marinette yanked her head up from her arms. Her cheeks were scrunched up, eyes swollen and red like bee-stings, face covered in tear stains and pouring over with new ones. “Do I look alright?!”

Tikki cringed. “Marinette, please.”

Marinette scowled and dropped her head back down. “Go away, Tikki. I don’t want to talk right now.” She spit her words like toxic venom.

“Mari-”

Marinette couldn’t take it anymore. “I said go away!” She shrieked and swatted her hand out as hard as she could. Her knuckles hit Tikki and sent her flying, sailing away from Marinette until she slammed hard against the opposite wall and fell in a crumpled heap on the floorboards. She blinked away her own tears and grunted, getting her bearings. “Mari...” She croaked, but Marinette was no longer listening.

No; instead, when Tikki looked back up, she found Marinette listening to someone else entirely.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi30_zps4zupfdqa.png.html)

The purple glow of a an akuma mask illuminated bright against Marinette’s pale, rain-soaked skin, contrasting against the cold, grey sky. Her face turned dark, as she mumbled something to someone.

Tikki struggled to hear what she was saying and called out to her again, “Marinette!”

But Marinette had better people to listen to. Or, a better person to be exact. The promise of all her deepest desires fulfilled blocked out all other sounds and sensations. The rain was no longer a problem, there was only one thing on her mind. _Revenge._ It clouded over every other thought in her brain, blackening her mind, her vision, her body.

She rose, a tar black substance bubbled around her, spiking her heart and mind with a rush of energy, like a spear granting power and life instead of death as it lodged through her chest. When the murky black subsided, she found her body clad in a pitch, skin-tight suit adorned in flashy, purple lightning branching out across her arms, chest, and legs like a mirror to the stormy sky above.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi34_zpsnxghz2cx.png.html)

Tikki cried out to her. She’d seen this happen before, to countless Ladybugs through time. She knew what would happen and she wouldn’t let it happen again.

With what little strength she had, she hurtled herself at Marinette.  
  
She’d had owners force transformations before, but she’d never forced one herself. She dove straight into the earrings. Anything to save Marinette.  
  
_Anything._

But it did nothing but make the lost girl she was trying to save stronger. Another cloud of muddy purple-black weaved around her. Marinette’s head flew back, body convulsing in struggled pain.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi32_zpssu7tsdz4.png.html)

Her mind tore itself in half. Part of her still wanted revenge while the other part of her begged her to stop. The black turned to red then to black again and again until it all finally merged into one thing. And then nothing.

Her transformation complete, the girl once-called Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood up tall, a deranged grin lighting up her stark face.

It was time to strike up a little Miss Fortune.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi33_zpsfiz64l6e.png.html)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go friends. Get ready for the ANGST. The real angst, I mean. hoo boy am i excited
> 
> anyway, here are the No Fear translations for anyone who is interested:
> 
> Ophelia's Soliloquy:  
> Oh, how noble his mind used to be, and how lost he is now!  
> He used to have a gentleman’s grace, a scholar’s wit, and a soldier’s strength.  
> He used to be the jewel of our country, the obvious heir to the throne,  
> the one everyone admired and imitated. And now he has fallen so low!  
> And of all the miserable women who once enjoyed hearing his sweet, seductive words,  
> I am the most miserable. A mind that used to sing so sweetly is now completely out of tune,  
> making harsh sounds instead of fine notes.  
> The unparalleled appearance and nobility he had in the full bloom of his youth has been ruined by madness.  
> O, how miserable I am to see Hamlet now and know what he was before!
> 
> The flowers scene:  
> Look at my flowers. There’s rosemary, that’s for remembering.  
> Please remember, love. And there are pansies, they’re for thoughts.  
> Here are fennel and columbines for you—they symbolize adultery.  
> And here’s rue for you—it symbolizes repentance.  
> We can call it the merciful Sunday flower. You should wear it for a different reason.  
> And here’s a daisy, for unhappy love. I’d give you some violets, flowers of faithfulness,  
> but they all dried up when my father died. 
> 
> And her death:  
> There’s a willow that leans over the brook, dangling its white leaves over the glassy water.  
> Ophelia made wild wreaths out of those leaves, braiding in crowflowers, thistles, daisies,  
> and the orchises that vulgar shepherds have an obscene name for,  
> but which pure-minded girls call “dead men’s fingers.”  
> Climbing into the tree to hang the wreath of weeds on the hanging branches,  
> she and her flowers fell into the gurgling brook.  
> Her clothes spread out wide in the water, and buoyed her up for a while as she sang bits of old hymns,  
> acting like someone who doesn’t realize the danger she’s in,  
> or like someone completely accustomed to danger. But it was only a matter of time before her clothes,  
> heavy with the water they absorbed, pulled the poor thing out of her song,  
> down into the mud at the bottom of the brook.


	13. Light At the End of the Tunnel Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Struggles are endured. What one gets is not always what one wanted.

Struggle, meaning a very difficult task, is an interesting word. It can refer to something relatively tangible, such as a struggle against an unjust authority, villain, or physical obstacle. Perhaps, one might struggle against the confines of a trap or a prison, or someone who might be attacking them. On the other hand, struggle can refer to something more abstract, such as the struggle one faces within when they are torn up about something. One can be torn up about their future, and what it holds. One can be torn up about the past, and what it was. And some people, can be torn up about the present, and what they should do in the world around them as it exists in the now.

Though tangible, past, and future struggles can all be equally parts awful, Marinette had always believed in facing the problems as they existed in the present, and it was because of this belief that her more present struggles troubled her the most.

When something is happening right before you, you don’t have time to worry about the future and you don’t have time to worry about the past. You don’t have time to worry at all. Instead, you must make a decision. The problem is, that oftentimes, once you make a decision, especially in times of struggle, you may find it difficult or outright impossible to go back and change it, and the fact of the matter is, the choices one makes shapes everything around them that will eventually make up the future and eventually lie in the past. It is only in the present that the choice can be made.

You can be torn up about it later on once it is made and you can dread it, if you are lucky enough to know you’ll be making the decision in the future, but at neither of those points can it actually be decided upon. Yes, present struggles, or rather, choices, are generally the most troubling.

But, any struggle, abstract or not, past, present, or future, is troubling in some respect, as Marinette found one particular rainy night. On this night, struggling was futile. Gripped as tightly in Hawkmoth’s clutches as the lucky charm bracelet was gripped in her fist when the akuma had flown into it, Marinette’s vision blurred, her head grew dizzy, and her fingertips numbed. Hawkmoth couldn’t have planned it better himself. He’d never expected the one and only miraculous heroine of Paris to be so quickly and easily manipulated, but here she was in his grasp. And even better? He didn’t just have Marinette under his control; thanks to her pesky kwami’s interference, he had Ladybug. Her miraculous was his.

One down, one to go.

With what little autonomy she’d been granted, Marinette balanced tall on the railing of her balcony and scanned the Paris skyline with narrowed eyes.

Her thoughts were a daze, everything clouded in a blur. Thanks to the power imbued in her and the control stolen from her, she felt a new side of herself take hold; a side she never even knew she had in her. The only thing Hawkmoth let her keep was her hate and she held on to it with all her might. She felt it in the tenseness of her muscles, the space ground between her teeth, the slowness of her breathing, and the focus Hawkmoth instilled in her. A single name echoed in her mind and bounced off the tip of her tongue and she needed to find the owner. Her thoughts were on one track and they weren’t derailing anytime soon.

Find Chat Noir.

Get his miraculous.

Nothing else mattered. Nothing in the grey, grey world around her. Her vision was a hazy mess and the only thing that could draw her focus was Chat. Her heart beat to stop him. Her blood pumped to stop him. Everything she was was a tool, a weapon, an extension of her master’s own command and an obedient servant of his every whim.

She stepped off the railing with the grace of a dancer and sliced through the air like a needle. No cringe or even a whimper of pain escaped her lips, even when her feet hit hard on the concrete and her bones rattled all the way up to her skull. Instead, she just started walking.

She strolled with a confident swagger and relished in the new surge of power humming inside her. The black tar that had transformed her had been light and weightless like snow, but now under her control, it had dropped to the ground, heavier, and oozing like oil. It trailed behind her as she swept down the street, bubbling and sputtering into the air, dripping from her hands.

Sauntering like she hadn’t a care in the world, Miss Fortune turned the heads of every civilian she passed, but couldn’t find the face she was searching for as she locked eyes with each and every person in view. She didn’t react until they did.

The first person to scream at the wretched sight of her, a mother with her baby wrapped in her arms, was instantly silenced as Marinette’s hand flew into the air, summoning a glowing rune and sending the black goo hurtling towards the woman.

The lady had just enough time to hug her child to her breast and duck before they were both engulfed in the tidal wave. By the time the cloud of black cleared, they were gone.

With a grin, Miss Fortune flicked her wrist up, returning the tar back to her side. “Not Chat,” she sang.

After that scene, the square broke out in screams. Their shrieks resounded off the brick-walls of the buildings around them, slowing dying down to nothing as Miss Fortune picked them off one by one. Each victim tried to run, and each one failed. Their shouts for help drew even more spectators, and in turn, even more victims. Marinette met the terrified faces of her neighbors, her classmates, and even her friends, all with an uncaring smile.

As the square quieted, Marinette paused and examined the sky. Above her, the clouds had finally cleared, but the day was coming to a close; and though the sun slowly descended down the sky it had ignited with an orange summer glow, Marinette could only see grey. It would be dark soon.

She continued down her path, heading towards their usual meeting place at the Eiffel tower. “Where is the beauteous majesty of Paris?” She called out, “Where is the hero Chat Noir?!” As she walked, she sung, “ _He’ll be dead and gone, soon, he’ll be dead and gone, at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone_.” She felt loopy, like Ophelia, and in that moment, she understood the character so much more than she ever had as Marinette. She understood her agency, and her lack of it. What she didn’t understand was where she would soon be headed.

Each bustling Paris road was quickly deserted upon her arrival, her newfound powers flooding them at her command. The city grew silent.

 

* * *

 

 

Adrien lay on his couch, his heart aching and his eyes tired, red, and swollen. He hadn’t meant to be so harsh and yet he couldn’t help it.

She loved him?

Then why had she kissed Chat? Why would she date anyone else? How could she really love him when she had played with his heart this way?

His hands balled into fists so tight that his nails bit his skin. He released the heavy breath he’d been holding tight within his chest and forced himself to uncurl them. The sore fingers rubbed at his temples absentmindedly, “Plagg?” He croaked, his voice a soft whisper.

Plagg floated over and sat on Adrien’s head, “You okay, kiddo?”

Adrien ignored his question, “Why do I feel like this?” He implored.

“Feel like what?”

“Like everything is wrong and broken. Like I hate Marinette and love Ladybug and love Marinette and hate Ladybug.” He raked his fingers through his ragged hair and sighed, “Like I’m the worst person in the entire world.”

“Yikes.” Plagg rolled on his side.

Adrien groaned at his kwami’s callous reply, “Forget I even asked.”

Plagg frowned, upturned eyes drooping, “Wait, kiddo, I didn’t mean-”

“Just shut up.”

“Adri-”

Adrien shooshed him with his index finger and perked up, “No, wait, seriously, shut up.” He rose from the couch and peered out his enormous window. “Do you hear that?” He asked. Outside, the clouds had receded into the distance. The setting sun neared the horizon line. It was quiet, much too quiet, and the streets were eerily empty.

“Hear what?”

“Exactly.” Adrien’s brow furrowed, “What’s going on?”

Plagg shrugged.

“We better go check it out.” He said, picking his weighty feet off the ground and shaking the clutter from his brain. Marinette was something to worry about for later. Now was time for business. “Plagg, transform me!”

He crept from his bedroom window and scaled down the walls of his house, breaking into a sprint once he hit the barren streets. To his dismay, everything was completely devoid of any signs of life. He ducked his head into a couple shops, but despite the blinking, “open,” signs, they were just as empty as the roads.

He gulped, mind toiling as he wandered and peered down each street aimlessly until the screams of a commotion finally caught his attention. They were coming from the direction of the Eiffel tower. He sped towards it, ready for action.

As he neared the tower, a jet black sea of oil came into view. It moved on its own, sweeping over most of the square, weaving up the metal rails of the tower, up lampposts, and covering everything like tangled vines.

Ladybug stood at its source, waiting patiently for him on the lowest part of the structure while a wave of the black sludge gathered beneath her. Except, upon further examination, Adrien found it _wasn’t_ Ladybug. She looked so much like her and yet, not at all at the same time. The glint in her eye had an unfamiliar fierceness, her face too harsh and severe, and her suit didn’t look right. Whoever that was, she couldn’t be his Lady.

But when he squinted, taking in the sight of the akumatized girl who stood above him, he caught her eyes, eyes so familiar and blue, and the chill down his spine told him the truth he couldn’t accept.

“Chat Noir!” She grinned, “The beauteous majesty-- the hero of Paris! Thank goodness, I’ve been looking all over for you! Have you finally graced me with your presence?”

 _No_.

It _was_ her.

Adrien gaped, breath and words escaped him. “L-lady?”

She shook her head, “It’s _Miss Fortune_ now, get it straight.”   
How had this happened? Was it his fault? Was this because of their fight the other night, when she’d stormed off?

“W-what...”

“I see I’ve left you speechless. Hazard of my dashing looks, I guess?” She snickered, “That sounds like something you would say.”   
He spoke up, “Ladybug... what... what happened to you?”

She scowled, dropping her flirtatious pretense, “I told you not to call me that,” She summoned a new rune and the tar pooled up and out, catching Chat in its suffocating grasp and carrying him up to face her like the swift movement of a whip cracking through the air. He struggled against his entrapment, but it was tough like taffy and wouldn’t break.

His mouth stretched into an frown, “Ladybug, are you...?   
She glowered, “ _I said_ ,” Her voice boomed like it was echoing from a loudspeaker, “ _Don’t call me that!_ ” She leaned down as the goo bubbled further up Chat’s body, encasing him in a black shroud, and grabbed his chin between her fingers. “Now that I’ve got your attention,” She continued, her voice softening, “I think it’s time you and I had a little talk. A heart-to-heart—or a _chat_ —if you will.” She flashed a grin and a wink.

Breath lurching as her powers hugged even tighter around his chest, Adrien squeaked, “P-please.”

She smirked, “Please what?”

His head grew faint, “I-I can’t...”

“Weeeell, I can’t have you dying on me just yet, and since you asked so nicely...” She tapped him gently on the nose and the tar subsided, sinking back down to the street and releasing him. She hopped down after it, “I was actually being facetious about the chat, I just want your miraculous. I have a friend who needs it.” One hand rested on her hip, while the other one twirled in the air as she explained. When she finished, she held it out expectantly, “Hand it over.”

Adrien got his bearings and scrambled to his feet, straining his body to stand tall, but the look on his face and his trembling lips betrayed him, “I’m sorry, b-but I can’t do that, my Lady.”

Marinette pursed her lips, her stiff smile vanishing, “Not to rely on clichés here, but you know the saying, Chat. There is an easy and a hard way to do this, choose wisely.”   
He tilted his head, his eyes pleading, “You know me better than that.”

“Hard way it is,” Marinette sighed and instantly advanced on him.

He flipped back, skidding away as his claws scraped the stone street. “My Lady, please!” He begged, “I know you’re still in there, whatever he did to you, whatever he promised you, it’s not _real_!” He side-stepped as she slung the tar at him with a flippant wave of her hand, “You know this. I _know_ you know this!”

Miss Fortune strolled forward, cornering him against a leg of the tower. As she raised her arms, she summoned the sludge and surrounded themselves on all sides with a static tsunami of black just waiting to crash down on her command. Adrien could just barely catch a glimpse of the darkening sky above before it was blotted out by the inky curtain.

“ _Please_.” He cried, “Just look at me, Lady, please!”

The smug expression on her face told him she wasn’t listening. Or worse, that she just didn’t care. Instead, she pressed her palms into the metal behind him, on either side of his head, and stepped forward, “Oh, my little kitty, don’t look so sad.” She mocked him with a pout, “Just give me what I want.”

He was trapped, he didn’t know what to do, and he couldn’t bring himself to strike her. She could murder him with her own hands before he even raised a finger against her.

Guarding the ring on his left hand in the fist of his other and holding them both against his chest, he thrashed his head back and forth, eyes desperately searching for an escape route.

She just laughed, “Aw, you want to scamper off and leave me here? That’s so cute.” Her face darkened. In an instant, the flicker of amusement vanished from her eyes, “I’ll give you until the count of three. One,” She flicked her index finger into the air, a third of the black wall collapsed in on him and cemented his feet to the ground. “Two,” her middle finger shot up and the second section dropped, splashing between her legs and pooling up around his waist. She tilted her head and paused, giving him the chance to comply.

He stared head-on, tears pricking at his eyes. What was he to do? She was _Ladybug_. She’d always been more powerful than him. Without her, how could they save the day? Without her, how could they purify the akumas?

Without her, how could they purify _her_ akuma?

It was the end of the world.

Marinette seethed under her breath, “Alright then, I see how it is,” She snapped. Her third finger darted up, “Thre-“

Without thinking, Adrien wrenched forward, his fingers delicately lacing around the back of her neck as he pulled her into a kiss. Maybe she wouldn’t listen to him, maybe she wouldn’t look him in the eyes and understand. But maybe, just maybe, this could work instead.

As his warm lips moved in sync over hers, she pacified, the tar and sludge receding, but the moment passed all too soon and she recoiled, ripping his hands off of her. A look of disgust spread over her face and a single bitter laugh spat from her lips, “Ha! What was that? You thought that could stop me?! You’re a fool.”

He drooped, defeated, and what was worse, she now hand his hands in her own. Her grip on his wrists tightened, his fingers numbed. She leaned in, face so close to his that he could feel her breath on his lips, and their chests almost touched as she lifted his right hand above them and pressed it hard against the cool metal of the tower, fastening it there with the tar. She dropped off her tiptoes, but didn’t step back, bringing his other hand up in her’s. “A kiss?” She scoffed, her mouth curling into a sneer, “I’m not sure if I’m more disgusted for myself or embarrassed for you.” Her sneer turned into a sickening smile. She opened his palm and stroked a line from his wrist to his ring finger where his miraculous rested. “Now then, I’ll just be taking this and be on my way.”

It took everything in him to tear his eyes away, but once he did, he ripped his hand out of hers and jumped into the air before she could seal him to the ground again with her powers. Seeing as his other hand was still stuck to the tower, he now found himself crouching on the side of it, just a few feet above her. She gaped up at him with a how-dare-you scowl painting her face, while he wrestled against his sole restraint and finally pulled himself free, propelling himself off the leg of the tower and flipping straight over her head.

She lunged the second he landed, but missed him and curled into a somersault as she hit the ground. Her powers tailed after her, lashing forward to wipe him out where she couldn’t. Stray tar bubbles caught him in the arm, sending him tumbling off to the side, but he stayed out of her power’s reach. He narrowly dodged another attack and leaped, darting back and forth over the cobble stones like an acrobat.

“You can’t just dodge forever, stupid!” She screeched after him as another one of her attacks missed him.

“Yeah, I know,” He called back down, “But you can’t attack me forever, either.”

Marinette gnawed at the inside of her cheek. Her eyes narrowed. He knew her too well, especially her fighting style. She’d never be able to land a hit, none of her attacks could catch him by surprise, and he was right, if they kept this up too long, she’d eventually tire herself out.

A familiar purple butterfly appeared over her face as a voice boomed in her ears, “Don’t fail me, Marinette.” She gasped as control of her body was wrenched from her, her muscles spasming “You won’t live to regret it.” Her limbs lurched forward, and pulled her towards Chat to claw at him. “He may know _your_ fighting style.” Said Hawkmoth, “But he’s never seen mine.”

She felt like she was performing a dance she’d never done before and yet knew all the moves to. Like an unnerving solo version of the dance she and Chat had performed to beat Black Swan not long ago.

She blinked, pausing for just a moment. She and Chat had worked together.

As the memory flooded her mind, her world, for just a moment, didn’t feel so hazy. She yelped, realization of what she was doing dawning on her in an instant, but Hawkmoth’s voice dragged her back under, pulling her beneath the depths of her memories, turning the world grey again and filling her with hate. He released some of his control, allowing more fluidity to her movements, but still guided her arms and legs into swift kicks and punches.

Adrien did his best to duck, but he grew weary. Even if he could subdue her, how would he ever purify the akuma? How would he even get it out? He had no clue where or what it was hiding in.

“What happened? _How_ did it happen?!” He demanded between pants.

Marinette tried to ignore his pestering questions but they bounced in her brain. What _had_ happened? Why _was_ she angry?

_Why did she care so much about Chat Noir when it was Adrien who had hurt her?_

_Adrien_. The other name echoed in her mind, a lone word bouncing off the walls of a dark and empty cavern.

“No.” Hawkmoth’s smooth and sinister voice weaved through her thoughts. “Don’t preoccupy yourself with these questions. Stay focused.”

She resumed her steadfast disposition and thrust herself back at Chat. “I don’t understand why you keep bothering to run,” She chimed, pushing her thoughts away, “You won’t attack me, so you’ll never win. And hiding is impossible. I’d always find you. What is it you’re aiming to do here?”

He refused to acknowledge her taunts, “Ladybug I know you’re still in there. You don’t have to listen to him! Whatever… whatever it is that… _someone_ did, it doesn’t matter.” More sludge bore down. With no time to duck, he finally yanked his baton out of his belt and swatted the wave away; which worked, that is, until the tar twisted itself around the staff and snatched it from his hands.

She giggled, walked down stairs of oil and stepping off in front of him, “And now you’re completely defenseless. Are you going to try and kiss me again,” She asked with a laugh, “Or perhaps try running?”

Apparently he was. He jumped out of the way as she continued her offensive.

Her strikes seemed different, newer, like he was fighting a new person. He found  
That dodging wasn’t as easy as it had previously been.

What was worse was that talking her down from the ledge didn’t seem to be working. Hawkmoth already had her body, and soon he would have her mind. He was already working on it, blocking her thoughts and memories and implanting false ambitions. Whoever she was angry at, it couldn’t be him—at least, not Chat Noir-him.

But it could be _him_.

Which meant her coming after Chat Noir wasn’t really _her_. He knew her too well. When she wanted something, she got it. If it was Adrien who had somehow caused this, then it was Adrien who she would have come after if she had total control. Instead, she had come after Chat. She was only following orders; a dutiful soldier rather than her usual crafty self.

But it wouldn’t be long before Hawkmoth had the controls to her mind in his hands, working and winding through her brain. And when that happened, well… it was not a threat he wanted to face, nor was she one that he could beat.

“Please,” He pleaded with her, his voice practically a whisper now.

She remained stone cold.

He grit his teeth. Continuing this way would get him nowhere. With an begrudging sigh, he went on the most defensive offense he could manage. But he couldn’t give it his all. The hits he could have gotten through, he let be deflected, and though she could tell he was faltering, he refused to hurt her.

But it did mean he could get closer to her. As they bobbed and weaved around each other, locked in a fight, he spotted a string of black charms bouncing at her hip, and next to it, a black yo-yo.

 _That has to be it!_ He thought. _No wonder she’s still in Ladybug form, the akuma must have hidden in the yo-yo when she transformed._

She noticed his gaze and shifted to the side, shielding her hips with her hand while her fingers wrapped around the string and her yo-yo and sent it flying towards him. In a close-quarters fight like this, the tar was useless, it would only wipe her out too, so she was back to basics.

He managed to dodge the first two swings of the yo-yo, and was only grazed by the third, but the fourth hit him squarely in the gut. He collapsed on the ground, gasping as the wind knocked out of him.

If he could just destroy the yo-yo, he could set her free, and if she was free? She could purify the akuma.

With a renewed sense of hope, he heaved himself up before she land another strike and engaged her full-throttle. Though he still remained careful not to hit her too hard, he wasn’t scared to throw a light punch. Each time she tossed the yo-yo he batted at the string, following back and forth like an actual cat. All he needed to do was grab a hold of it.

It dawned on Marinette that he wasn’t even dodging anymore. He was trying to grab the yo-yo instead. She huffed, drawing it back into her hand and fastening it to her hip, then snapped her fingers and leapt back. Under her order, the sludge crashed down right where she had been standing and swept towards Chat at an alarming rate. He flipped back before it could trap him.

She gave him some distance, removing herself from the fray and leaving her powers to do the job for her. They shot this way and that, but never caught him. Only the small bits that bubbled out of it ever landed a hit, searing onto his suit, but never doing any damage. She groaned. Why couldn’t he just do the easy thing and give up?!

Their scuffle neared the fountains, inching closer and closer to the water. Adrien took a deep breath and leaped across, hopping past each cement stone until he reached the center steps. Her powers followed him, but didn’t get far before they slunk against the water like oil, slipping and seeping and sloshing, unable to move. He smirked. Finally.

Miss Fortune raked her hands forward, willing the tar to move, to strike, but it wouldn’t go. She yanked her yo-yo back out and tossed it forward with an exasperated grunt, “Why do you keep trying?!”

He caught it mid-air and grinned.

“What are you smiling at?” She spat.

He replied with only one word, “ _Cataclysm_.”

His powers, as black her own, bubbled up around the yo-yo until it dissolved into thin air.

But his grin faded when his Lady remained the same and no butterfly emerged.

She raised a brow, “And what did you think that was supposed to do?” She asked, her expression bemused, “Oh... did you think the akuma was in there?” She chuckled, “I guess you thought wrong.”   
Before he could act, Marinette plunged her hand into the fountain, the black gathered around it and slid up her arm until it was once again one whole mass, free of the water. Adrien backed away and jumped further into the fountain.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi36_zpskaxqstq3.png.html)

This time around, she would be careful not to let it touch the water. This time around, she would beat him. She went all-out, pulling every stop in any attempt to trap him.

Adrien darted towards the opposite edge of the fountain as fast as he could, dipping back and forth in a zigzag to avoid the sludge as it throttled around him and back again. As the next barrage swamped down on him, he somersaulted behind the far end of the fountain, clipping his knee hard on the sharp cement edge and tumbling gracelessly to the sidewalk. He hugged his knee to his chest for the brief moment he had before his Lady appeared in front of him, then pushed himself back to his feet, wincing with each step. As the paw on his ring blinked with his first warning, he knew he couldn’t just jump around the fountain forever. Running out of breath, he tripped into the shallow water, stumbling and splashing back to his feet in an effort to evade her as she hovered a safe distance from the fountain while the tar hung in the air above the water, suspended like an iron chandelier.

She paused, lips pursed, “You think I’ll fall for your little water trick a second time? Fool me once, shame on me,” She took a step forward, her powers surging forward without touching the pool, “Fool me twice, well... like I said, I’m not fool enough to let that happen.” She performed an acrobatic flip up the steps of the fountain, never touching water as gobs of tar flung out of the mass that followed her like little black yo-yo strings.

Though Adrien managed to miss the first wave, they were just too small and too close to completely avoid. They stuck to his suit, his face, tugging him closer to her, pulling him to his knees and into the water, closer and closer back to the stairs of the fountain.

“That’s better,” She grinned, stepping closer, “I like you this way.” As he neared the edge, she flicked the bell of his collar in an effort to tease him.

He grunted, still fighting against his restraints, trying to pull them under with him just to loosen them, but they stayed strong. His face was a masterpiece of ferocity and frustration, covered with bruises and blood dripping from his lip, but his crying eyes told a different story. “My Lady...” He heaved, his breathing labored.

Miss Fortune tilted her head and pouted her lips in an expression of mock sympathy, “Oh, my poor, poor, little kitty, she’s not here right now. Can I take a message?”

He lunged to the side, to no avail, but did manage to free his left arm, ripping through the stringy black goop in triumph only to be engulfed in a wave of it as he hit the edge of the fountain.

“Look,” said Marinette, getting down to business, “All I really need is your miraculous. You aren’t really the person I want to hurt right now, so if I ask nicely, will you just give it to me?” Her face softened, hiding the smug smile that threatened to stain her lips, “It would make my job so much easier.”

His own lips hardened into a frown.

She tried a different approach, smiling sickly sweet, “Chat, please.” She said, “If you just let him win, he’ll never bother us again. He’ll stop sending akumas. That’s all he wants.”

He didn’t answer.

“We could be free from all of this. We could finally be free to just... be.” She stroked his cheek ever so gently, leaning in as if she were about to kiss him, “I- _we_ could... be together.

It hurt him to hear the words, words he’d been wishing to hear since the day he’d met her. He wanted to say yes, to throw his miraculous at her feet and pull her close and just leave all of it behind. He loved her. He loved her so much it twisted him up and tore him apart.

“ _Please_. Hawkmoth won’t make me hurt you if he doesn’t need to. I don’t _want_ to hurt you.”

But he knew better. He pushed against his prison, “I’d never give it to you, Hawkmoth! Do you hear me? Never!” He wrenched forward, looking her right in the eyes, “Ladybug, I know you’re still in there!”

His words fell on deaf ears, “That said, I will if I have to.” The look of pity or yearning or whatever it was dropped from her face, “And I’ve told you many times now. I’m not your Lady. I’m not Hawkmoth. I’m Miss Fortune, now.”

He bowed his head in defeat, face scrunching up in frustration until his eyes caught the black charm bracelet dangling from her waist. He considered how familiar it looked, but had no time to dwell on it before she leaned back down and blocked his view.

“So I guess we really are doing this the hard way?” She sighed. She almost did look truly sorry. “Well then, if that’s what needs to be done, I have to do what I have to do, you know? For everyone’s benefit.” She paused, “Or Hawkmoth’s, at least.”

“Not you own?” Adrien mumbled, head still drooping.

“What was that?”

“Why not for your own benefit then?”

Her hazy grey vision cleared for just an instant until she shook her head, willing it all away. Instead of answering him, she bit the inside of her cheek and scowled, peeling his hand out from the tar and slowly uncurling his fingers.

Adrien struggled against it, “Come on, don’t avoid the question,” he continued, “Who cares what Hawkmoth wants? Didn’t he promise to give you what _you_ wanted? What about you, then?”

She grit her teeth and clawed at his fist, “Shut up,” She whispered.

“Ah, see? He’s in your head. He’s in there right now, isn’t he? Telling you what to think and who to be. Why don’t you just think for yourself?!”

His words pierced her thoughts like a poisoned dagger. She breathed heavy. Her mind, which had been so quiet and peaceful ever since her transformation, started to buzz again. Just the softest hum at first. “Stop.”

He couldn’t. “What do _you_ want?!”

The hum burst into a cacophonous symphony. Her thoughts flooded her brain like water out of a broken dam. He was right. This _wasn’t_ what she wanted. “Stop,” She repeated, her voice was almost impossible to hear and her fingers, still grasping his in her hand, softened. “Stop.”

“Don’t let him control you, Ladybug. Don’t let him have your mind. Don’t let him make decisions for you. Make up your mind for yourself. For once, just make a decision and do what _you_ want!” 

Marinette let go of him altogether and clapped her hands over her ears, desperate to block out the noise. Her head shook back and forth, denying his words entry into her brain. “Shut up! Shut up!” She cried, “It’s all too loud! Shut up!”

“My Lady, I know you’re in there, please!”

“Shut up!”

She was shaking, quivering on the spot, fighting against herself, fighting _back._

Hawkmoth’s voice thundered, screaming at her to stop, but it only added to the discorded clamor tormenting her mind. She didn’t know who was talking anymore or who she was even talking to. “Shut up! Shut up! Please just shut up!” It felt like there was a fist clasped tight around her throat. The air in her lungs dissipated. She couldn’t breathe. Her powers faltered, the tar holding back Chat crashing to the ground and drained down the streets.

She watched as he took a step towards her and scrambled out of his reach, “No.” Her lips formed the word but no sound came out.

He took another step, ever so carefully. “My Lady.”

“No.” She bent over, shoulders hunched as she covered her ears and hid her face. The square was silent but her mind blared. “No.”

“My Lady, I’m sorry.” Another step, “I’m sorry for what I did.”

Another step and he closed the gap between them. She felt his arms slowly wrap around her body. They were so warm, so familiar. Like a fire in the winter. Like her bed after a long day. Like her mother’s cookies or her father’s macaroons or the warmth of bakery when she returned from school. Like something safe. Like home.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” he pulled her up to her feet and into him. Her arms hung slack, she couldn’t bring herself to fight him off. “I’m sorry for everything that happened.”

Marinette cringed, but her shudders slowed and the air returned to her lungs. Her mind, still tearing itself apart, settled, if only for a moment, as his hands gripped her tightly and pulled her to his chest.

Only one lucid thought could escape her lips, “But what do you have to be sorry for?”

His answer was the flash of his miraculous as the last claw on the paw print blinked, and in an instant, Chat Noir disappeared.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoi35_zpsr96o5cv1.png.html)

As the burst of green light faded around them, Marinette recognized the familiar, warm touch of his skin. And there he was. Right in front of her eyes. Her perfect, angelic, vision of a dreamboat lover-boy and the most oblivious person, sans herself, that she had ever met. The boy she’d fallen so completely, totally, hopelessly, helplessly, undeniably in love with. The boy with the umbrella, who she’d thought about every day since he’d given it to her.

She looked Chat Noir, and the most oblivious boy in the world in the eye for what felt like the first time and his own green, green eyes pierced through the grey world around her into her own like it was the only color that mattered. Where she’d once been blind, she now could see and from his striking eyes poured a flood of tears as he wept.

She wept, too. Why hadn’t she realized before. Her mouth couldn’t form the words. There was nothing to be said, anyway. The hug said it all.

“Maybe…” He sighed, tears running down his cheeks, “Maybe this can help you make that choice.”

Marinette’s hands no longer felt numb. They felt like hers and hers to use. So she did. They wrapped around his shoulders, returning the hug, and pressing him even closer. She shut her eyes, blocking out the pink sky. A sigh of relief rushed from her lips as a blackened akuma, having lost its connection with its host, fluttered out from the lucky charm at her waist and released her from its dark transformation.

Free at last, Marinette, still transformed into Ladybug, opened her eyes of her own volition, and pulled herself away to look at the boy in front of her. “A…Adrien.” She was already sure, but she needed to say his name.

His tears stopped and started again all at once, though these new ones were tears of joy. An enormous, beautiful smile spread over his angelic face. He grabbed her again and pulled her in for another hug, clinging to her tightly. “My lady.”

“Adrien, I-“

A new voice cut her off, though. “Well, well, well, this is quite a pretty picture, now isn’t it? I hate to break it up.”

It came from above. They looked up to find Hawkmoth standing confidently on the lowest rung of the tower glaring down at them below. His lips pursed into a frown, like he wanted to be amused by this turn of events but just couldn’t be. “I guess this means I know who _both_ of you are behind the mask, now. Isn’t that interesting?” He asked, though he sounded more furious than interested. As he stood there in his black and purple suit, his eyes bore through Adrien’s like fire.

“Hawkmoth!” Adrien yelled up, “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged, “I’m here to get what I want, _Adrien Agreste._ And, well, since Plan A failed miserably, I figured I’d just come down here and execute Plan B.” His gaze shifted to Marinette..

“What are you going to do, Hawkmoth? You don’t have me anymore. You can’t beat us!”

He chuckled, “You’d be surprised just how powerful I really am. Besides, I lied about doing it myself, I’m really just here to watch. I have an army to do the dirty work for me.”

Adrien and Marinette exchanged glances, quizzical expressions painting their faces. “What army?” Marinette scoffed. “Everyone’s gone!”

As the words left her mouth, she realized, just as she watched it flit back into Hawkmoth’s waiting hands, that she had yet to purify the akuma. She froze. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood straight, “No…” She whispered.

“Oh, Ladybug,” said Hawkmoth, looking more pleased with himself with every word, “’Yes,’ is a much more pleasant word.”

The butterfly settled onto his staff and flapped its wings. As it did, the tar that had seemingly disappeared flooded back into the streets, releasing all the citizens Marinette had captured. The crowd grew and buzzed. The familiar faces of friends and neighbors alike, now all gathered in one place, met theirs with looks of confusion. They had very little time to react, however, as Marinette’s akuma began to multiply. Thousands of little black butterflies spiraled out from where Hawkmoth stood and infected the civilians. Marinette spotted Alya in the crowd just before she was engulfed in the black. The clouds of pitch bubbled and vanished into the air to reveal Hakmoth’s army.

Thousands of their akumatized friends, family, and neighbors surrounded them and all of them wanted blood. They caught the familiar faces of Lady Wifi, Anti-Bug, Evillustrator, Black Swan, and more. So many people, so many faces, so many akumas, many of whom they’d never even encountered before. Marinette stilled, blood chilling as she spotted the masked faces of her parents in the crowd. _Even them?_

“Like I was saying, I’d rather just watch. My army can do the job, I’m just here to make sure they actually finish it for once.”

Marinette whipped her head up to face him, “Hawkmoth, let them go!”

“You’re out of your league, Ladybug. I’m not going easy on you this time.”

Adrien cradled Plagg in his hands, his eyes scanned the crowd, taking note of every person he knew. How many people had been akumatized? How many people would he need to fight? To hurt? And could he even do it if he tried?

Plagg looked half-asleep. “You’re no good for a transformation?” Adrien asked, though his whisper did nothing to mask his distress.

“Adrien…” said Plagg. Plagg almost never said his name. The sound of it coming from his voice was foreign. The look on his face was foreign, too, a look of genuine fear. “I’m sorry, kiddo. I’m too weak right now.”.

“Now’s your last chance!” Hawkmoth called down, “Surrender them peacefully and you won’t be hurt. Like I told you before, Ladybug, I have no interest in hurting people when I don’t need to.

“Not in a million years, Hawkmoth. You’ve never cared about hurting people before, and you don’t care now!” said Marinette through grit teeth.

Hawkmoth sighed, “Well then. I guess I just need to do what must be done. For everyone’s benefit. Or, mine at least.” He said with a laugh, casting his cane into the air.

Struggle, meaning a very difficult task, is an interesting word. It can be both abstract or tangible. It can be past, present, or future. A present struggle, particularly one in the abstract sense, can also be referred to as a choice. As living, breathing creatures, we are presented with choices each and every day. They are so ingrained in us as a part of our lives, we often don’t even consider most of the choices we make as struggles, and perhaps, not all of them are. But a great many choices do fall into that category.

That said, it is not the choice that is so important, as the choice is just either/or. It is the decision, and regardless of how present the choice one struggles with is, the decision can be put off for quite some time. Sometimes, people are fast-acting and make quick decisions, while other times, they mull it over in their heads and consider the pros and cons of each possible choice. When struggling against someone who stands in your way, you might do both, making quick decisions in battle and taking more time to scheme and plot outside and between. When struggling with a choice of suitors, you might make quick decisions around either one, pressed by the passion and urgency of the moment, but once the moment passes, you might find yourself slowing down to really think through your choices properly.

But, as living, breathing creatures, we are presented with choices everyday, and therefore, we make decisions everyday. And though one decision might be made, there are still many more to make that follow. You can make up your mind and do what you want, but so will everyone else, and what they decide might affect you as well. Even if they don’t have your mind and your choices, they can still make their mark on you. And even if you finally make a decision in regards to one struggle, you may end up wrapped in an even more entangled mess of struggles, choices, and decisions than ever before.

Adrien found, after making the decision to reject Marinette, that he had created a villain in the person he _had_ chosen.

Marinette found, after making the decision to turn her back on the ambition and hate Hawkmoth had implanted in her, that her own hate had infected the people that she loved and turned them against _her_.

And Hawkmoth, who had made a decision a very, very long time ago, to get what he wanted, no matter the cost, had found that not only was the answer lying right in front of him the entire time, but that the person he had been trying to protect all this time had been the very same person he’d been yearning to destroy.

All three of them had been presented with difficult choices and all three of them had made difficult decisions. And now, at the height of their struggles, no one was sure if the decisions they had made were the right ones. But as you may well know, once you make a decision, especially in times of struggle, you might find it difficult or outright impossible to go back and change it. It is only in the present that the choice can be made.

Yes, present struggles, or rather, choices, are generally the most troubling.

With Hawkmoth’s cane raised high, the crowd surged forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit am I sorry for how long that took. I had this written about a day after I posted the last chapter, but it's been gone over so many times, refined, and rewritten that what you just read is so very different from what I originally wrote nearly a month ago. And let me tell you, I am SO GLAD I took the time to do this. I think it's so much better this way. I'm a little upset that I wasn't able to get some illustrations done, but I didn't wanna keep everyone waiting any longer. I think I'll do them in the future, since I've had pictures thumbnailed for this chapter since before I started writing any chapter 1 lmao.
> 
> also, the next chapter mayyyyy take a little while I'm very sorry, but I want it to be even better than this one
> 
> also sorry if this one hurt :p
> 
> EDIT: added in some pictures. Little bit of a style divergence, sorry. I was just kinda getting sick of the other one, as much as I love it :/


	14. Sky's Metamorphosis

            Their metamorphosed neighbors, friends, and family frenzied around them like butterflies newly emerged from their cocoons. They tested their wings, flapping and zipping in a flurry and they danced all over the square, darting under the pinkish sky like animals on the prowl.

            What had happened to these civilians when they had fallen victim to Miss Fortune’s powers, Marinette had no idea, but if that bubbling black sludge was the cocoon that trapped them, then it was her festering anger and negative emotions that pupated the very butterflies that had infected them. All she could think about was butterflies, it was a butterfly of sorts that had caused all this, after all. These people were some awful butterfly observation experiment, a twisted version of the ones she had done in primary school. Except, now that they’d been released, they were furious, lethal, and aimed at herself and Adrien. They were the results of a butterfly effect; steps put in motion from the very moment she chosen to pursue Adrien as Ladybug. And the worst of it all, they were like the butterflies now bouncing in her stomach and making it turn.

            But none of that mattered right now, because these butterflies— these akumas— were like nothing the duo had ever faced, and with Adrien completely powerless, they were barely a duo to begin with.

            Adrien slipped Plagg into his pocket before the crowd could seize him and took his Lady’s hand, shoving himself between her and their surging attackers. She screamed something to him, but whatever it was, he couldn’t hear it over the clamor. As the rabid crowd convulsed and tore them apart, he wrestled against them, balling his ringed hand into a fist and guarding his miraculous with everything he had.

            Meanwhile, as Marinette drifted further and further from her partner, she struggled to keep her attackers at bay. Yo-yo in hand, she swatted at them, too scared to use the full force of her powers and injure someone she knew. There were just too many of them all at once. She’d find and elbow in her side here, and fist punched into her gut there. Everything hurt, her joints ached, her muscles throbbed. One familiar face would bob in front of her only to be replaced by another and another and another until they all melted together like some horrible, writhing, gestating mass. She shrieked, striking out with the yo-yo as they clawed at her earrings, but the sound was lost to the crowd.

            She struggled just to keep her eyes open, but every time she caught a glimpse of the darkening sky in the spaces between the crowd, she saw _him_. Staring down at her from the tower with a smirk lighting up his face. He’d win soon. There were too many of them and only one of her. At this rate, they’d either take her miraculous or tear her apart, and she wasn’t sure which would be worse.

            Her mind thundered with questions. How this could have ever happened? What exactly had led her to this point?  Alya had once told her about a phenomenon called the butterfly effect, how the flap of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world could cause a storm on the other side. At the time, she’d considered it complete nonsense. How absurd, right? A butterfly? Something so small and insignificant could never cause something like a storm, or something so far away. But now... she wasn’t so sure. A butterfly could clearly do some damage. The question was, what small and insignificant action of hers had caused this?! Which of her choices had the weight of a butterfly’s wings? The weight of this storm?

            _If only I’d never fought with him_ , she thought. _Or grown jealous of my own self. Or started so much drama between the two of us. If only I’d never gone after him... and lied to him._

            _If only I’d never fallen in love with him. Then maybe this never would have happened._

            Across the way, Adrien cried out as his cheekbone connected with the knuckles of a classmate. He grunted and flinched out of the way only to be met with a hard kick in the ribs that sent him flying to the ground. They flooded over him like waves over sand, blackening out the red-violet sky. He winced with each hit they delivered as they beat him bloody and blue, but he held his will. He would not unclench his fist.

            As his vision faded and blurred, he let his head drift to the side and his cheek graze the pavement. There wasn’t anything he could do. He had no powers. He just wanted to rest, to sleep.

            To give up.

            But as he turned, through his narrowed eyes he noticed the broken end of some sort of post, a metal rod, sticking out from the ground only a few meters away. With a deep breath, he forced his eyes open and hurled himself to his feet, fighting against the throngs of people.

            Sure, he had no powers. And yes, he wanted to just pass out and fade away. But there _was_ something he could do, and there was no way in hell he would give up. He’d fought with a sword before, he’d fought with a baton; in desperate times like these, a metal post would do.

            Lunging through the crowd, he thrust forward and heaved the thing out of the earth, using its weight to knock away those who followed him. But when he turned, the crowd had parted, allowing a single akuma victim to pass through it. His fencing instructor, now transformed into Dark Knight, stepped out of the fray, brandishing his shining black sword. Adrien swallowed his fear and readied himself. As he adjusted his feet and struck forward, his attack was immediately deflected. He switched to a defensive position, throwing up the long end of the post and meeting the iron sword with a loud clang.

            On the other side of the square, Marinette bounced further and further back. Stranded on a cement island in the center of the fountain, she caught a brief glimpse of Adrien fighting back across the way before her vision clouded over with another hundred faces.

            She tried to push the image of him from her mind and focus on the task at hand, but she couldn’t quite ignore it. He’d looked so hurt, so broken.

            As she spiraled her yo-yo in one hand, shielding herself from the destruction, her racing thoughts returned. Had her moment with Adrien not been interrupted by Hawkmoth, she might have embraced them, but with horde surrounding her, those anxious thoughts were even more unwanted than usual.

            Adrien had been Chat Noir the whole time?! Chat Noir had been Adrien?! She thought through every interaction she’d ever had with either of them, cringing with each passing memory. Her first kiss— with Chat— had been _Adrien_! All the flirting and puns, that was him, too! And the boy who had sat by her hospital bed had been Chat. He hadn’t just abandoned her in the alley. Every kiss, everything she’d told them— _him_ — all the horrible things she had said.

            And if he was Chat and Chat liked her- _Marinette_ her, then-

            Her line of thought ended abruptly as Lady Wifi appeared and tore through the throng on her cyberboard, sending a deluge of pause attacks flying towards her friend.

            “Alya!”

            Lady Wifi smirked, rounding the center of the fountain and zooming back towards Marinette. “Think fast!” Her arm whipped out and with it, five attacks in a row. Marinette ducked, and managed to miss them by a hair, but lost her balance and took a dive. She scrambled to her feet, sloshing through the shallows and gasping for breath. Wind knocked clean out of her and mind dizzy, she steadied herself and scanned her surroundings. Lady Wifi zoomed back towards her, while the rest of the horde leaped through the fountain waters on the opposite side.

         A strike from behind her brought her to her knees. She yelped in shock, choking on an unwelcome gulp of fountain water and trying to identify her attacker at the same time. As he raised his weapon into the air, she scrunched her eyes tight and braced herself, but the hit never came. She heard a shout, splashing, and then a loud clang, and when she opened her eyes, it wasn’t the akuma victim standing before her, but Adrien. The man who had been standing there previously lay in a crumpled heap just a few meters away.

            Her savior looked back at her, smiling hard despite the array of bruises and cuts decorating his face, “Careful, my Lady,” He said, leaning down to offer her a hand.

            She graciously took it and leapt to her feet before the rest of the crowd could fall in on them. Standing back to back, they faced off against the first wave, yelling to each other over the commotion.

            “I can’t believe—” Marinette threw up her yo-yo shield, “—you were Chat Noir the entire time?!”

            Adrien blocked one attack and dodged the next, “Yes, I’m sorry!” He struck down an akuma that got just a little too close to her, “But is now really the time to talk about this?!”

            She shrugged between her own attacks, “I mean it’s not like it’s kind of a big deal or anything!”

            “I told you, I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything!” He ducked and rolled, she followed after in a jump, staying close to his side, “And I’ll make it all up to you, I promise, but right now—”

            “Right now—” Marinette tossed her yo-yo out and knocked down the next row of villains. Above them she could just barely see Lady Wifi hovering around the tower where Hawkmoth stood waiting. “—Right now might be the only time we have!”

            He groaned, “Can’t you use Lucky Charm or something?”

            “And then what? I’ll take out one akuma and then run out of time! I’m not like you, I’m useless in a fight without my powers.”

            Adrien knelt to the ground and swung the baton across the shins of his closest attackers. “You’re not useless!”

            “That’s sweet and all, but I’m trying to be realistic!” Marinette called back. “You don’t know who I—” She cut herself off to fend off another kid from their school.

            They swept through the swarm, knocking back akuma victims left and right. But there was no doubt— they were tiring out and they hadn’t actually done anything but knock some of their attackers unconscious. Soon, even they would wake up and just rejoin the fight.

            That didn’t stop them. The duo managed to make it out of the fountain, still both side by side. They refused to let themselves be separated again.

            “So that other girl?!” Marinette cried over the crowd.

            “What about her?”

            If what Adrien had said was true, he had feelings for someone else, and he was Chat Noir, who had feelings for Marinette, then...

            “You tell me!” Marinette replied.

            Adrien huffed, “I’m kind of busy right now!”

            “No excuses!”

            He sighed in irritation as they flipped around and switched sides. “She’s just...” He paused, telling himself it was just to engage an attacker. He tried to block the thoughts of Marinette from his mind but her face plagued him. Was she another victim hiding in this crowd somewhere?

            “And this whole time you were just—? I mean I knew Chat— I mean you— I mean _whatever_ liked me or something,” She leapt forwards, dolling out a sharp kick. “And you still went after me as your civilian self?”

            “Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I know it was selfish!”

            The ground shook as something large drew forward. Gamer’s enormous machine body emerged from behind the large building down the street. Max’s thunderous cackle could be heard from inside it.

            Marinette and Adrien took one look at Gamer, exchanged a fearful glance and bolted for the tower. They had no time to waste in catching Hawkmoth, and if they stayed on the ground, Max would crush them. Before the giant mech suit could storm the square, Marinette grabbed Adrien by the hand and dragged him through the crowd. They fended off each opponent and reached the tower with just enough time to swing themselves up by Marinette’s yo-yo.

            They tumbled onto one of the lower level structures of the tower, but Hawkmoth was nowhere to be found. There wasn’t much time to dwell on his disappearance. Lady Wifi and the Bubbler were waiting patiently for them instead.

            “Nino?!” Adrien exclaimed.

            The Bubbler scowled but said nothing in reply. Beside him, Lady Wifi strolled forward, “Well, what do we have here? A pest and a stray?” She looked to Adrien, “I guess you’re more of a boy-toy now than a stray.” She tilted her head, face inquisitive, “Where’s your little cat-friend?”

            Adrien grit his teeth and stayed silent.

            “Alya, I know you’re in there. If I can break free from his control then you can, too!” Marinette pleaded.

            Alya only laughed, “Darling, I’m not Alya, I’m a puppet.” She waved her hands around and did little dance, “Puppets don’t think for themselves. They do as their master bids. You were a bad puppet, but I’m a good one. I do what I’m told and I don’t ask questions.”

            Far below, the throng had begun scaling the legs of the tower, clawing their way up rail by rail.

            Adrien nudged Marinette with his elbow and turned her attention to an even more pressing issue— above them. Though the criss-crossed metal slats of the tower, she could just faintly make out what he was pointed to. Hawkmoth, who nearly blended in with the purpling sky above, stared down at them with a sneer on his lips.

            “We don’t need to fight them all.” Said Adrien, “We just need to stop him, and then the rest of them will stop, too.”

            Marinette nodded in reply. Their objective was clear.

            “What are you two yacking on about?” demanded Lady Wifi. When they didn’t reply, she glared, gesturing to the Bubbler.

            Marinette didn’t want to take her chances with her friends, she shot her yo-yo up into the air, securing it around one of the railings, but this time, they didn’t get the chance to swing away in time. The Bubbler struck out with his own weapon, sending hundreds of his namesake flying towards them. They stuck to her skin, and in her moment of distraction, Marinette let go of the yo-yo’s string and jumped out of the way, leaving it abandoned.

            Their attackers split, the Bubbler advancing on her, while Lady Wifi went after Adrien. He knocked her first set of attacks out of the way, but every time he sent his own, she vanished into a million pixels and reformed somewhere else.

            Marinette called out to him as they struggled against their respective opponents, “Before we fought, you said you loved me, but then later, you said you loved someone else. Who was that?!”

            “I thought we’d decided that now was kind of a bad time to have this discussion!” Adrien yelled back.

            “I haven’t decided anything yet!” Marinate reached for her weapon, but every time she tried to grab it from where it hung, the Bubbler would send her further back with another barrage until eventually, she was teetering over the edge.

            Adrien spotted this, and with both of his hands twisted around the metal post, he thrust Lady Wifi back and somersaulted to Ladybug’s aid. He whisked her from the edge before she could fall to her doom, “She doesn’t matter anymore.” He whispered, settling her to her feet.

            “I’m not so sure of that,” Marinette let out a nervous laugh.

            “I promise.”

            Another humorless laugh escaped her lips, “No, really, you might wanna change your mind about that.”

            “About what?”

            Lady Wifi stirred, pulling herself to her feet and summoned her board. She hopped on and grabbed the string of Ladybug’s yo-yo. Then, using it to anchor herself, she swung around the nearest leg of the tower, propelling herself forward as fast as she could and slamming Adrien off his feet.

            He caught he edge of the tower as he went flying, hanging from it by a single hand.

            Without a moment to lose, Marinette ducked, sliding between the Bubbler’s legs and across the platform to reach him. She pulled hurriedly at his arms as Lady Wifi leapt from her board and, in tandem with the Bubbler, sent a blitzkrieg their way. Before Marinette could take the hit, Adrien pushed her out of the way. She fell and rolled out of Lady Wifi’s range, leaving Adrien still dangling from the ledge.

            “Uh, uh, uh.” Lady Wifi taunted.

            “Let’s take them now!” snarled the Bubbler.

            With a smug turn of her lips, Lady Wifi yanked the string of the yo-yo and let it clatter back to the metal platform at their feet. She sauntered towards Marinette, helpless and cornered without her weapon. “You know, my master has given you plenty of, ‘last chances,’ but you’re never gracious enough to take them.” She leaned down. “But he’s tired of giving you last chances. And I want to have some fun.”  

            Beside her, the Bubbler raised his weapon but before he could strike, Adrien pulled himself back up and tossed his own weapon, knocking Nino’s feet out from under him.

            Lady Wifi whipped around, her lips twisted into a sneer. She lunged forward just as the first akumas reached their level and swarmed. Marinette wrestled her for her yo-yo, hopping onto Lady Wifi’s back. She struggled to push her off, but collapsed under her weight.

            “GET OFF,” She grunted as Marinette pinned her to the ground and slipped the yo-yo out of her hands.

            “Cha— Adrien!” Marinette cried, casting her arm out to him as she tossed the yo-yo with her other arm. He rushed towards her, taking hold of her hand as tightly as he could, and they swung up as the first akuma victims lurched forward. One managed to graze Adrien’s already-injured leg with something sharp, and though he still held on, he cried out from the pain.

            “Are you okay?” Marinette asked, lending him a hand as they pulled themselves up to the next platform.

            He winced but hid it with a smile, “I’m fine.”

            A moment of quiet, however brief, settled over them like snow blanketing the ground, but it ended all too soon, as the sound of their pursuers nearing melted it all away. The partners hurtled themselves upwards, level by level.

            “We’re pretty far up, now,” Marinette panted as they passed the midpoint of the tower. “Are you sure you’re okay? We have a few minutes before they reach us if you need to—”

            “No, don’t worry about it.” Adrien insisted.

            “Cha— Adrien, seriously, you’re hurt. Please, just take a break. You can’t fight Hawkmoth in this shape.”

            He shook his head, “We need to get up there right now.”

            “No, you need to rest. And… we should… talk.”

            Adrien groaned, “At a time like this?! You want to _talk_ right now?! Are you kidding me?”

            “Seriously, Adrien, there is something you need to—”

            He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “Lady, please, now is not the time.”

            “No, there’s something I need to tell you. I tried telling you before but...” Her voice faltered, “Just trust me, you need to know. It’s important.”

            “What’s important is that we move. Right now.” He eyed the horde below, getting closer and closer. Any moment, Lady Wifi or some other crazed attacker would zip up there and stop them before they could even reach Hawkmoth. If she wasn’t going to swing them up, he’d do it himself. He started up the rungs of the tower, climbing just like the people following them. “Come on, let’s get a move on. We’re almost there.”

            Marinette sighed, climbing up beside him. She curled an arm around his waist, flung her yo-yo, and up they continued. As they zoomed towards their destination, Marinette tried the subject again, “Adrien, you really need to know-”

            Adrien shushed her, clinging tightly to her side, then cupped her face in his free hand, “Save it.” He whispered, his voice strained, “Whatever it is, you can tell me when all of this is over.”

            Marinette paused, and for a moment, they continued their journey in silence. Until she couldn’t take it anymore, “I’m just not sure we’ll—”

            “We’ll make it through this.”

            “How can you be so sure, though? You aren’t a fortune teller. They don’t exist.”

            “Because we can _choose_ to make it through this. And that’s basically the same thing.” He replied.

            Marinette bit her lip, focusing her attention on pulling them up as they reached the next rung. “I just...” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

            “ _We’ll make it through this._ ” Adrien repeated. “I promise.”

            His assurance was no help at all, but the light squeeze he gave her did manage to calm her pounding heart just the slightest. “We’ll make it through this because you have something to tell me.”

            She helped him to the next level, pulling herself up in the process, when a familiar voice spoke up beneath them, “Why don’t you tell _me_?”

            Hanging just feet below, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng gazed up with the same amused smirk as Hawkmoth, and as quickly as Marinette had noticed them, Sabine had her daughter’s ankle tight in her grasp and was yanking her to the lower platform. Marinette toppled off the edge and let out a cry of pain as she came crashing down. As she hit, her parents dropped down from the rafters where they’d hung, landing on either side of her.

            “After all,” said Sabine in a whisper, “what are parents for?”

            “Ladybug!” Adrien called down, “Are you alright?!”

            “I’m fine!” Marinate yelled back, scrambling away from her parents, “Just…” She looked at the couple in front of her and then to him, meters above. She didn’t want him finding out this way.

            “Stay there, I’ll climb down!” He said.

            “No!” She dodged to the side as her mother lunged for her. “Keep going up! I’ll hold these two off and catch up later!”

            “I’m not leaving you behind!”

            Marinette groaned. If he stayed any longer, her parents would let it all slip. “No, you need to keep going!” She said, side-stepping out of her father’s reach. “You can’t fight right now, just go!”

            Adrien ground his teeth and shut his eyes, “Please, just…” He begrudgingly peeled himself from the edge, “stay safe, okay?!”

            Marinette was too preoccupied with the fight to reply, so with a deep breath, Adrien continued his expedition up the tower.

            Meanwhile, Marinette heaved herself to her feet, having miraculously wiped out on the floor attempting to dodge what she assumed was a kitchen mixer attack from her father. “Mom… Papa…” Her eyes filled with tears. “Please, it’s me!” She tried to back away, but her father leaped from his crouched stance to block her, a stern look spreading across his masked face.

            The two of them were decked out in fiery red suits that glowed like the embers at the heart of a raging fire. On top of their suits, they each wore coal-black aprons tied at their waists, and glowing belts covered in various kitchen utilities.

            Marinette fell back as her father closed in, his body emanating heat like an open oven.

            “Papa!”

            Sabine fell wordlessly from where she hung, landing in a crouch beside her husband. Her hands moved cautiously for the weapons at her belt while Tom wielded his kitchen mixer and the two closed in.

            Marinette raised her hands, pleading, “I’m not going to fight you two.”

            They edged closer and closer, and Marinette once again found herself dangerously close to the ledge. “Really! Mom, look at me! Papa, please!”

            They jumped into action, one on either side of Marinette. She ducked, rolling between them, and dodged the attack as they tripped and skidded to the edge of the platform. The metal of the structure hissed as their molten suits made contact. Marinette made for the opposite leg of the tower as they pulled themselves to their feet and started her climb. “I won’t fight you!” She repeated.

            But her parents weren’t hearing it. They scrambled up the rails behind her, leaving scorch marks on the metal wherever they touched it.

            To make matter worse, Lady Wifi, accompanied by the Bubbler, zoomed past them and straight up to the top of the tower on her cyberboard. As she rose above Marinette, she grinned down at her with a triumphant smile and continued onwards.

            “What are you doing?!” Marinette called up.

            “Beating you to the finish line, you little pest!” Lady Wifi snarled.

            “I won’t let you get awa—”

            She never got the chance to finish her sentence as her father reached up and pulled her down hard. She slammed to the ground for the second time, seething against the pain as she carefully lifted herself up.

            Bad daughters get grounded, sweetheart,” said Tom, standing over her, hand in hand with Sabine.

            “Yeah, well good bakers shouldn’t burn everything, but your stupid outfits make it seem otherwise,” Marinette grunted as she frantically pushed herself out of their reach.

            Sabine’s rolling pin came down like a hammer, grazing against her ankle as it hit hard on the metal. Marinette yelped, flinching back and rolling as far from them as she could manage. “Mom, please, I don’t… I can’t hurt you guys!”

            “But you already did.” Said Tom, his words, liquid poison to her ears.

            “What are you talking about?!” Marinate had to lean against the side of the tower, keeping the weight off of her throbbing ankle just to get to her feet.

            Sabine strolled forth, this time with a knife in her hand, “You’ve been putting yourself in danger every day. You keep secrets from us. How could you? How could you be Ladybug?” Her voice sounded sickly sweet, but the look on her face, not so much.

            “You’re hurting us Marinette. What if you injure yourself? What if you die? Don’t you trust us?” Asked her father.

            Marinette panted, trying to push their words out of her ears as she desperately clambered back up the rails. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. She’d never wanted them to know, and especially not like this. And the worst part was that she didn’t know how to stop them without hurting them.

            “We’re going to teach you a lesson.” Said Tom.

            “We’re going to show you the danger you’ve been ignoring. What could happen.”

            “I’m not gonna lie, mom, that seems a little counterintuitive!”

            The rafter Marinette dangled from vibrated with an ear-splitting metal _CLANG_ as Sabine rammed her knife into it and swung herself up to her daughter like an acrobat. “When this is all over, you won’t be able to disappoint us anymore. You won’t be able to put yourself in danger.” She grinned, her teeth gleaming in the fading light like the knife glinting in her hand.

 

            “I really don’t like the sound of that!” Said Marinette, glancing at her yo-yo. “Why don’t you just put the knife down?” She didn’t want to hurt them. She _really_ didn’t want to hurt them. But she couldn’t just leave them, either.

            The solution dropped down from the platform above.

Adrien landed not-so-gallantly on Tom’s shoulders and knocked him to the ground. Sabine growled at the intrusion. She pounced on Adrien leaving Marinette hanging until she lost her grip and fell as well.

            “Adrien, what are you doing?! I told you to keep going!”        

            “I got worried!” He called over, wielding his makeshift sword. “Plus, Alya and Nino are already at the top.” He dipped between his two attackers to join Marinette on the other side, “I don’t know what he’s planning, but I think _both_ of us should get up there _right now_.”

            “But what about these two?” She asked, dodging her mother’s knife. “And the others?” She gestured down at the oncoming horde.

            “We should just leave them behind, don’t you think?”

            Marinette bit her lip. The throng below, they could probably avoid, but her parents seemed pretty intent on catching them— and possibly killing them, too— and they didn’t seem to be tiring out. And none of that factored in the discomfort she felt over leaving her parents alone while they were under Hawkmoth’s control. “No, we’ll just end up cornered once we reach the top.”

            “I think we’re already cornered, anyway.” Said Adrien as he gestured to their position, backed up against the wall— yet again.

            Marinette huffed, side-stepping attack after attack. Her parents had grown silent, but any moment they might say or do something that would reveal her identity— or worse— they could hurt her, Adrien, or themselves. “Then I don’t know what to do! I have no idea!”

            Adrien raised both his sword and his eyebrow, shielding himself against Tom’s own butcher knife, “Well that’s a first!”

            She groaned.

            “Okay, okay, sorry. Why don’t you use lucky charm or something?” That’s gotta help, right?”

            “Yeah, for, like, a minute, and only on one akuma.” Marinette sighed, “And then what?! We’ve still got thousands more of them to deal with down there, Hawkmoth to deal with up there, and after five minutes, I’ll be completely powerless.”

            Adrien stared pointedly at the weapon in his hand, “You say that like fighting untransformed is impossible!”

            “Maybe not for _you_ , but for _me_? Yeah, it is!”

            Out of nowhere, Sabine lunged for Marinette, pinning her to the ground while Tom took on Adrien. She leaned down and whispered in her daughter’s ear, “I bet it would be really inconvenient for you if he found out who you are right now, huh?”

            Marinette jammed her elbow into her mother’s gut, cringing as she did so, and wrestled herself out from under her, “Don’t you dare.”

            Sabine hugged her side in pain, but smirked up at Marinette, a cruel gleam in her eye, “Why honey,” She said loud enough for everyone on the platform to hear, “Why would you treat your own mo—”

            “LUCKY CHARM!” Marinate screeched over the sound of her mother’s voice, thrusting her yo-yo into the air. _Crap. Crap. CRAP._ She thought to herself. She was too busy freaking out to catch the item as it tumbled to the ground and landed at her feet. A roll of duct tape.

            Marinette rolled her eyes. What a cliché. With a sigh, she gathered the tape off the ground and bounded for her mother.

            Sabine flipped out of the way, kicking out at Marinette as she spun through the air, “Why are you hurting me, Mari—”

            Marinette lunged, forcing her mother hard against the wall, and pressing her forearm into her windpipe before she could finish the word.

            Sabine struggled to breath, her voice wheezy, nearly impossible to hear, “Marinette, why?”

            Marinette pressed her lips together and held back the tears in her eyes. _I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m really, really, really sorry._ She repeated it over and over again in her head as she ripped a strip of duct tape and stuck it over her mother’s mouth. She then continued, wrapping the tape around the lattice her mother leant against until she was firmly trapped in place.

            The look in Sabine’s eyes killed her. Maybe it was just Hawkmoth taunting her, but the expression of betrayal cut through her chest like a knife.

            Once she was through with her mother, she turned her attention to her father. Across the platform, Adrien was holding up well against him, but not well enough. Without his powers, he was tiring out faster than usual.

            While they battled, Marinette slid across the ledge and knocked Tom’s legs out from under him. The second he hit the floor, she hopped to her feet, securing the end of the tape to the ground with a stomp that rivaled a flamenco dancer’s, followed by a dancer-like leap over the broad width of her father’s shoulders; and before he could even register what had happened, she had unraveled the roll and taped him down on the other side.

            “Come on, help me!” She called to Adrien, who just stood there in surprise. He shook the impressed grin off his face and knelt down beside her, holding Tom’s struggling body still as Marinette trapped him against the platform. She finished him off with a strip of tape over his mouth, making sure to avoid all eye contact as she did, and stood up to examine her handiwork. “I don’t know how long this will hold. We better get going.”

            Adrien nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned over the edge of edge of the platform, hurled her yo-yo and high as if would go, and together, they swung in a grand arc towards the top of the tower. As they soared through the air, a tear escaped out of the corner of her eye.

[](http://s845.photobucket.com/user/leagrrl/media/decidetoichap14stuff_zpsg6fl7634.png.html)

            “Are you okay?” Adrien asked.

            She nodded, “Yeah, sorry. It’s just the wind.” Her guilt-ridden moment was interrupted by the sound of her miraculouses as they blinked with her first warning. _Four minutes._ _Fantastic._

            Adrien did her the courtesy of ignoring it, and just a few seconds later, they tumbled over the highest platform of the tower in a clumsy heap.

            Hawkmoth was waiting patiently for them. Lady Wifi and the Bubbler stood at his side. In such close proximity, Marinette was able to get a good look at her nemesis for the first time. His suit was smooth, sleek and shiny, made of a dark grayish-purple material. He wasn’t terribly old, probably close to her father’s age, but his face looked worn, and his eyes, hidden under his awful mask, were heavy with the kind of tired look only old men wear. His expression, however, was pleased, almost gleeful, really. He clasped his hands together in a dramatic gesture as the duo stumbled to their feet.

            “Finally! You two are rather slow, don’t you think?”

            They didn’t answer.

            “Well then, I see how this is going to be.” He sighed. “I had hoped this could be a more amicable meeting. It not like I haven’t given you many chances for it to be.”

            Their silence persisted. Adrien looked to Ladybug to say something, but no words came to her mouth.

            Hawkmoth grit his teeth, “Alright, if you won’t talk, I will. You should be honored, you know. I came all the way out of my little cocoon just to see you two in person. You’ve really given me quite a challenge, if I’m being honest. I just find it ironic, now, knowing who the both of you are. You were so close, practically right under my nose. But I wouldn’t worry about that too much. I’ve thought it over for the past, say, twenty minutes or so, and I’d say I’m over it. Now why don’t you two do the mature thing and follow suit.”

            Adrien finally managed to speak up. “You’ll never get them, Hawkmoth. We’d never give them to you. It doesn’t matter what you throw at us.”

            Hawkmoth grinned, his thin lips splitting his face from ear to ear. “Oh, but Adrien, I’ve already thrown everyone I have at you. I’ve got nothing else to, ‘throw.’”

            “Then we’re at a stalemate.” Said Marinette.

            Hawkmoth tilted his head, his eyes flickering with amusement, “Are we?”

            As he spoke, Lady Wifi stepped forward. “Lady Wifi, darling, would you do me a favor?”

            She nodded, but her eyes still held a dead, empty look in them.

            Hawkmoth pointed to the edge of the platform, at a small section where the railings meant to keep people from falling off had been ripped, bent, and wrenched from their place to create an opening. “Would you go stand right over there for me?”

            Without a word, she took her place at the edge, her toes shifting just inches away from certain doom.

            Marinette stilled. Goosebumps dotted her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight. “What are you doing?” She hissed.

            “Bargaining.” Replied Hawkmoth. “And I really don’t think you have much time, Ladybug, so I’d choose quickly if I were you.” He pointed to her earrings, as they blinked another warning, and then to the crowd below, climbing closer and closer every second. “Give me you miraculous, and all of this will go away. I promise.”

            “Let her go!” Adrien cried. “Let her go, right now!”

            Hawkmoth wagged a finger. “Uh, uh, uh, Adrien. There you go, always throwing a tantrum. That’s never going to solve any of your problems, and it certainly isn’t any way to be talking to your father.”

            This time, Adrien froze. “What?”

            “Come now, it wouldn’t be fair if you were the _only_ one who gets to disappoint their last remaining family member today, now would it? To think, my own son was lying and sneaking out behind my back this entire time just to stop me, while I’ve slaved away every day just for your sake.”

            “You’re lying.”

            Marinette’s breathing slowed. Nothing was processing; nothing made sense. _Alya wouldn’t jump off the edge of the tower, no... right? And Hawkmoth couldn’t be... no way._ “You- you have to be lying.” She said, repeating Adrien’s words.

            Hawkmoth gave a wry laugh. “I don’t see a point in hiding it anymore.” His voice rose in anger, “You’ve already proven to be an ungrateful little—” He forced himself to stop and regained his composure. “ _Ahem_ , since we’re no longer keeping secrets from each other.” He spread his arms and grinned.

            “ _Gabriel Agreste?”_ Marinette whispered to herself under her breath.

            “You can say it louder, Ladybug.”

            Marinette couldn’t tell if Adrien was still panting or if something was wrong with his breathing. The color had vanished from his face. His eyes were wide with shock or confusion or some awful mix of the two. His legs trembled and his lip quivered, “Y-you can’t be. Stop lying. Stop!”

            “There’s nothing to lie about, Adrien. I can’t believe you don’t even recognize me.”

            Adrien was speechless. He had no answer, no reply. He just collapsed to his knees in a heap, with his head bowed and his shoulders shaking.

            Marinette knelt down, anxiously shaking him by the shoulders. Now was not the time for hesitation, “Adrien. Adrien stop, please. You have to get up, _please_ , Adrien!”

            He said nothing.

            Hawkmoth rolled his eyes and sighed, “He’s so sensitive. Just like his mother, and look what good that did her. Don’t mind him, Ladybug, we have a different task at hand.” He held his hand out, “Hand them over.”

            Marinette’s hands darted to her earrings, “Not in a million years.”

            Hawkmoth flicked his hand up and behind him Lady Wifi raised one foot over the edge.

            “No, wait! Please!” Begged Marinette.

            “You _know_ how to stop this.”

            Marinette balled her hands into fists and stared out at the horizon. Save for the pinkish-orange light fading quickly into the place where sky met land, the expanse above them was a hazy, violet color, growing darker by the minute. It made her sick. She wanted to fight him. She wanted to fight him more than anything.

            But then what? Alya would be over the edge before she could even take a step towards him, and she barely had a minute left until her powers would run out.

            She wracked her brain for a trick, a distraction, anything that could save them, but nothing came to mind. They’d cornered themselves in the worst place possible, with Hawkmoth before them, and the horde of akumas below them. She was supposed to be good at this. Getting out from between a rock and a hard place? That was her thing! But she had nothing. No ideas, no lucky charm. She drew nothing but blanks. And Adrien? Adrien… wasn’t exactly in the game at the moment.

            “Tick tock, Ladybug. I’m getting bored.”

            She grit her teeth, heart humming, head buzzing. If she timed it right, she’d have enough time to whisk Adrien and herself to safety with her yo-yo before Tikki gave out, but what would happen to Alya? Her brain couldn’t decide between fight or flight. Neither option was looking all that appealing and the only one left was… giving up.

            Hawkmoth’s amused expression darkened with the sky, his voice hardening, “Really, Ladybug, don’t test me. I’m not bluffing.”

            The leg Lady Wifi stood on trembled under her weight. Beyond her, a bright yellow line of light gleamed just above the horizon. The last of the sun’s light.

            Marinette gulped, trying to find her words, and let out one unsteady breath. “Alright.” She whispered. “You win. Just… please, let her go.”

            Hawkmoth’s mouth curled back into a smile. “Alright, Lady Wifi, you heard the girl.”

            Alya leaned forward and tumbled over the edge; her brilliant copper hair glimmering in the last of the sun’s rays before she disappeared from view.

            Marinette shrieked, bounding past Hawkmoth for the ledge. Her body felt numb. her vision went white. In an instant, before she even knew what she was doing, her yo-yo was flying down through the air as she leaned dangerously over the edge. She held so tight to the string, her fingernails bit through the suit. “ALYA!” She thrust her arm as far she could reach, as if that would make the yo-yo fall any faster, and through her blurred vision, she watched as it reached her friend and pulled taught around her arm.

            And then, just as she watched intently at her friend hanging below, Adrien watched as her miraculous blinked, her suit dematerialized, and with it, the yo-yo.

            The sun dipped beneath the horizon line, casting the sky in shadow, and as quickly as her transformation had run out, as quickly as the sun had vanished, Alya was gone.

            Marinette stared vacantly over the edge, unable to tear her eyes away. Her friend’s name still echoed on her lips as tears streamed down her face. “No!” She blubbered, like it would make any difference. “NO!”

            “A deal is a deal, Marinette, now hand them over.”

            “Never!” She screeched. Her hands went to her ears to guard them, but her fingers rested on nothing. Frantically, she felt for her miraculous, but they were nowhere to be found.

            “Where are they?!” Hawkmoth demanded. “What did you do with them?!”

            She ignored him. Her arms wouldn’t stop shaking, she could barely see anything behind the wall of tears in her eyes. The air felt wrong, like it stung wherever it touched, like something evil enveloping her on all sides; and still, she couldn’t look away from the limp body lying broken on the ground hundreds of feet below.

            A stark silence fell over the platform. The only sound to be heard was their heavy breathing until Adrien shattered the silence with the low rumble of his voice. He growled something to his lap, arguing with Plagg as he cradled him in his hands. Plagg's weak, distraught yelping fell on deaf ears. “You can’t, Adrien! Not right now!”

            Marinette pressed her nails into the metal. Her other hand still hovered over the edge as if she were still holding the yo-yo. She couldn’t look away. She couldn’t look away. Why could she just look away?!

            “Adrien, you can’t. If you force it--”

            Adrien shut him up with his grumble of a reply.

            Hawkmoth seethed; nothing was going according to plan, and now half of his solution had miraculously disappeared.

            “I can’t believe you.” Adrien spoke up before him.

            He raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

            “How could you?!” Adrien wasn’t paying any attention to Plagg anymore. No, he focused all his fury at his father, now. He sounded enraged, but also, just a little bit strained, as if he were holding something back. Tears, maybe. Years of pent-up frustration and aggression, perhaps. Fighting words. He wasn’t sure. The only clear thought in his head was the thunderous sound of his racing heart-beat.

            His head throbbed. He felt dizzy. A wave of nausea rolled over him as he tore his eyes from his lap and met his father’s eyes, piqued with interest. His chest felt funny, like his heart was skipping a beat.

            _Tha-thump, tha-thump,_ thump _, tha-thump._

Nothing made sense anymore. Not his thoughts, not his feelings. Was he shocked? Surprised? His father was his mortal enemy. His lady was his lover. His friend— _her_ friend— was…

            _No._

            He shook that one from his mind. It was already buzzing with too many other problems to focus on grief.

            “Answer me!” He commanded. Eyes red with rage, his mouth curled into a horrific snarl.

            Beside him, Plagg shuddered, edging slowly towards him until he was settled on his shoulder. “Adrien—”

            Adrien’s whole body trembled. It took everything in him not break. “Plagg…” He whispered.

            The kwami shook his head. “Adrien, I know what you’re thinking, but you can’t do it,” Plagg rambled, “You’re in no shape— I have no energy to— you can’t force it—”

            Adrien bowed his head again. It was clear his father didn’t even care enough to answer his question. “Forget it.” He said, “Plagg—”

            “Adrien, no!”

            “Plagg, transform me!”

            As the transformation whirled around him, his scream shot through the air. Whether it was in agony or anger, Marinette couldn’t tell. And yet, despite the spectacle Adrien was making, she still couldn’t look away from Alya. Her eyes were glued to the spot. It didn’t matter what happened now. Nothing mattered anymore. She wasn’t Ladybug. She was Marinette. And her miraculous was gone. Tikki was gone. There was no magic reset button. No lucky charm. No do-over.

            “How could you?!” Chat Noir roared behind her. “How could you?! I’m your son! She was my friend! What is wrong with you?!” He thrust his arm into the air. A dark cloud of black formed around it as he summoned his powers, “Do you even feel sorry?!”

            Whatever surprise Hawkmoth felt at his son’s outburst vanished as quickly as it appeared, and his smug composure returned as Adrien lunged forward.

            He was unbalanced, unsteady. His mind and heart raced, but his arm, a deadly cataclysm swirling round it, stayed sure in front of him, aimed right at his father’s heart. With just a calm step to the side, Hawkmoth dodged his son like a bullfighter, and sent Adrien flying towards the banister.

            Adrien’s destructive touch made contact with the metal, curling it underneath his hand. He heaved, out of breath, his head spinning, and for a moment, it seemed that was that.

            That is, until the platform groaned, leaning to one side. The decay of metal spread out further and further from where Adrien gripped it; down each rail and lattice, across the platform they stood on, and over every part of the tower. It engulfed the monument in rust, making a sound like a human screech as it traveled on. The top of it began to sway as the railings around them bent and snapped.

            Marinette stayed glued to the spot, the metal underneath her crumpling and folding. The tower creaked, toppling to one side, and then the other; swaying like a tree in the wind, until finally collapsing in on itself.

 Adrien felt his feet loose contact with the platform, and for a moment, they were flying; hovering just above it. Pieces of dissolving metal floated all around them like some bizarre hanging sculpture without the strings. Down, hundreds of feet below, the shrieks of the akuma victims resounded as they were ripped off their feet and crushed under the weight of the tower in legions.

            There was no time for thought. Adrien ignored them all and dove for Marinette. He scooped her up in his arms and bounded up the falling scrap at some attempt to evade their fall, as if it would make a difference. He desperately searched for an escape, for a solution. That was normally Marinette, or rather, _Ladybug’s_ job, but she’d tapped out, and at the worst possible moment, too. She just stared, stared, and stared at the sky behind him.

He didn’t know what to do. They were falling fast. Neither of them could survive it. Not in this shape. He looked down at Marinette, but she wasn’t looking at him. She gazed straight ahead, starry-eyed, like a broken doll. Between the dizziness of the fall and his shortness of breath, she was the only thing he could to focus on. Everything around her blurred until it was no more but she still wouldn’t look at him. She just kept staring and he kept leaping and they both kept falling anyway.

He held her tightly. He wanted to close his eyes just as tightly, too. He almost did. But finally, as if lifted from a trance, Marinette moved. Her arm, cradled close to her chest, lifted and she pointed at the sky behind him. Adrien whirled around and lost his footing, but it didn’t even matter. He didn’t feel the sharp blow of shock as his feet hit air. No, he felt shock, a devastating, breath-taking rush of it, at what he _saw_ , instead.

Ladybugs and black cats— the real kind, that is— don’t experience a metamorphosis in their life cycle. There is, for them, no physical transformation between one self and another. Unlike the real kind, Marinette and Adrien did, from day to day, or perhaps even _like_ the day, as they switched from one identity to another. But they weren’t animals or cats or bugs, they were humans. And those weren’t true metamorphoses. In the abstract or metaphorical sense, yes, sure, but not in any sort of physical sense. It obviously logical that a cat wouldn’t experience one, they have no reason too, and ladybugs just aren’t that type of bug.

However, like day becomes night, and then day again, over and over and over with each rotation of the earth, a different sort of creature _does_ , famously, experience a metamorphosis.

A caterpillar, having reached a point of no return in its life, will wrap itself in a warm cocoon with a single purpose in mind. And when it finally has the chance to reach that purpose, it will emerge from its cocoon, a winged butterfly. All it has to do is leave its shell behind.

Hovering above them as they tumbled through the air, Gabriel Agreste— Hawkmoth—Father— whatever Adrien was supposed to call him now— he had no idea, fixed his steely glare on them as a grand, grotesque, immense set of fantastic purple wings burst through the skin of his back and tore through his suit. They flapped once, twice, sending great gusts of air out as he rose higher and higher, until he finally swooped down, in one gallant arc, and caught his son by the arm.

Marinette, hanging from Adrien, and Adrien from his father, stared up at the pitch black, starless night sky, losing themselves in a void of night as they watched the storm clouds roll back in. For a moment, as the last of the tower clattered down far below them, everything was peaceful.

But then everything went black. And this time, it wasn’t just the color of the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao ;)
> 
> EDIT: added an illustration


	15. Puzzle the Piecing Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya is still dead. So is basically everyone else.

Adrien raced down a long, dark corridor, his feet pouding as fast as his heartbeat. He had to talk to her, to get her out of there. Everything could… _would_ be okay.

His memory of the past twenty-four hours rewound over and over in his head like a movie, but they felt more like dreams— hazy and surreal. When it came down to it, he could only parse through the facts. His father was Hawkmoth. Marinette was Ladybug. Alya was dead. Everyone was dead. He’d woken up in a dark, unfamiliar room. No windows, no lights, only the crack of light under the door to cast a shadow here and there. As his eyes adjusted and his frantic breathing slowed, he realized he was not alone. His father was in the room. Adrien had, for the past week or so, been under the impression his father was away on a business trip. His presence the night before had been shocking in a myriad of ways. But here he was. Not Hawkmoth. Just Gabriel Agreste. Father.

He wasn’t sure what to say. The awful things Gabriel had said to him just hours ago echoed in his ears. Maybe he just shouldn’t say anything at all. Why should he? His father was evil, the one man opposing him at every turn, and in more ways than one, apparently. There was no way Gabriel Agreste harbored love for Adrien, right? Not anymore, at least. Not since his mother… left.

His father was the one to speak first. “Sleep well?” He asked, no humor in his voice.

Adrien didn’t reply. He curled up in the corner of the room, pulling his knees to his chest, and glared.

“I suppose not, then. That transformation must have taken quite a toll on you. You were out for a good twenty hours or so. It’s nearly nighttime.” He strolled over to the other side of the room and flicked on a light switch. “Your lady friend has been up since this morning.”

Adrien was quick to shield his eyes from the blinding fluorescents that flooded the room with light.

“She was much louder than you are. Wouldn’t stop screaming. I’ll try talking to her again when she calms down.”

Adrien’s eyes followed his father as he trailed around the room nonchalantly. How could he be so calm and reserved? Did he even care?!

“Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry.”

“Where are we?” Adrien finally asked, ignoring his father’s question.

“We’re at home, obviously.”

Adrien glanced around the room. It didn’t look like anything in his house.

“Ah, I see. You’ve never been in here before. It’s like the hidden hall we escaped through last month. The house is full of them.”

Adrien seethed, “So this is where you’ve been…” His lip curled. “Why did you lock us up? Haven’t you already won? Wasn’t… wasn’t it all enough, already?!”

Gabriel seemed surprised at the outburst but collected himself, “Well it’s true that I confiscated that ring of yours. I’m just keeping you here for your own good. But your… friend hasn’t been so easy.”

“Excuse me?”

His father’s nostrils flared, “Don’t act like you don’t know!” He snapped, before taking a deep breath and adjusting his shirt, “You’ll both be staying in confinement until the ladybug miraculous is in my possession.”

Adrien slumped. His father had stuck him in a prison of his own house—and this time for real. And how was Ladybug—Marinette—doing? He balled his hands into fists and buried his face into his knees. “Why… why didn’t you just let us die with the rest of them?”

He whispered. His father was taken aback by the question, eyebrows raised. “Why didn’t I let you die? What kind of question is that? You’re my son, I’d never let you _die._ ” He laughed like it was an absurd proposal. “What have I ever done that would lead to believe I want you _dead_.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, _Hawkmoth_. What do you think?!”

Gabriel pursed his lips, “That was all a miscalculation on my part.” He replied calmly. “I should have recognized my own son. It was my fault for letting you attend public school, letting them infect you with… whatever it is they told you that let you believe it was even okay to be…” He paused, “Anyhow. I may not be the most present father, but I’d never let you _die_. That’s the exact opposite of what I want.”

“Then what do you want?!”

_What do you want?_

Adrien asked himself the same question as he thundered down the hall, not an hour later. He felt more comfortable, more at home in his suit, with his ring on his finger, and Plagg within it. The black leather-spandex stretched with the muscles and joints of his legs as he made each long stride, searching for the room his Lady was being kept in.  

What _did_ he want? His friends were dead. His father was Hawkmoth. The only thing he had left was Marinette, and she probably hated him. And what were they even supposed to do once they got out? Nearly the entire city was dead, probably. Who knew what was going on outside the doors of his home, if anything. Were there police? Military? Officials parading the streets in search of answers? Did they even know what had happened here?

Or were the roads deserted? Empty of everything except the soft summer wind? Somehow, that possibility troubled him more than anything else.

He shook the thought from his mind and continued down the corridor until he reached the room at the end of the hall.

“Cataclysm,” he whispered and destroyed the lock on the door.

Inside it looked just like a prison cell. Dark, cramped, and empty of anything. The only things adorning the walls were a tiny air vent at the base of the furthest wall and an even tinier sliver of a window way too high to reach. It let in just the faintest crack of light and in it, he found Marinette. She looked tired, her eyes were red and swollen. He wanted to wrap her up in a warm blanket and take her far, far away. Somewhere safe, somewhere warm, somewhere they could just forget.

She glanced up at him, no hope left in her eyes, “Adrien?” She croaked.

He broke. He collapsed on the floor in front of her and held her tight against his chest, his face nestled in the crook of her neck as tears flooded down his masked face. “I’m so sorry.” He wept.

She barely moved, her face painted with shock as if she couldn’t believe he was really there. “A-adrien?”

He nodded into her shoulder. She slowly and carefully wrapped her own arms around him and pulled him closer. “How—why—what are you doing here?”

“I came to find you.”

“Find me?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “I know how we can get out of this.”

Marinette drew back, “Get out of…?” She pulled out of his grip, “Why? There’s nothing out there anymore. There’s nothing left. They’re all…” Her voice faded; her head sunk.

Adrien perked up, inching back towards her. “B-but—”

“But nothing, Adrien.” She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face into her arms. “How did you even get out?” She asked, her voice muffled now.

“I—no, that’s not—we have to get out, come on Marinette, I know what we can do!”

She raised her head and glared up at him, “What is there to do?!” She shot back, “My parents are dead! My friends are dead! _Your_ friends are dead! And do you know who killed them?! _Hm_?!” Her hoarse voice scratched the air like nails on a chalkboard.

He could feel the tears pricking at his eyes again, “No, Marinette please—”

“ _Your_ father! _He’s_ the one! Shouldn’t you have known or something? All this time you’ve been living with the man we’ve been trying to stop—the man we _failed_ to stop?!”

“We didn’t fai—”

“He won, Adrien! Paris doesn’t need us! It doesn’t need defenders anymore. There’s nothing left to defend!”

Her words rang in his ears. They blared like sirens. Hadn’t his father said the exact same thing earlier?

“ _There’s nothing left for you to defend_.”

“Yeah, because you killed everyone!” Adrien shot back. “Stop avoiding my questions. You’ve been avoiding this— _me_ —everything—almost my entire life! You don’t get to do this now. Not after everything you’ve done!”

Gabriel whipped around, his face full of a foreign ire, a fury Adrien had never seen his father wear. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you—for us! For this family!”

“What family?! We aren’t a family! You’re my father only in name! Mom has been gone nearly a year now!”

His father ground his teeth so hard, Adrien could see the muscles of his jaw tense under the skin. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and wiped the snarl off his face as he turned away from his son. “She doesn’t have to be.” He whispered.

Adrien shook the memory from his head and glanced back down at Marinette. “You’re wrong.” He said.

“What do you mean I’m wrong?”

“All of it,” Adrien replied, “All of it can be fixed.”

Marinette scowled, “Stop. Don’t be delusional. It’s not worth it anymore.”

             “No, Marinette, we can fix it all. My—I know a way.” He carefully lifted her face up, forcing her to meet his eyes, “This isn’t over, Marinette.” He studied the look on her face and wiped a tear from her eye, knowing that this was exactly how he must have looked when his father had told him.

“I can bring them all back.” Gabriel had promised him. “Your friends, your classmates, the city. I can find your mother.” For the first time, Adrien swore he could see some faint evidence of life in his father’s eyes—a glimmer of hope. He didn’t know what to say, but his father just continued, “The ladybug and cat miraculouses—your ring, her earrings—on their own they hold incredible powers, yes, but combined… combined they can do _godly_ things!”

Marinette scrunched her eyes tight, holding back another rain of tears, “Adrien,” She mumbled, “Please… stop. I can’t do this anymore, just stop.”

He pulled her close again, holding her tight in his arms, and whispering in her ear, “Our miraculouses.” He said, “We’ve had it all along. All we need is our miraculouses.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve got mine,” He tapped his ring finger, “Now all we need is yours.”

Marinette let this settle in, doing her best to stop sniffling as she considered his words. “All we need is…” her eyes narrowed, “Mine?”

Adrien nodded emphatically, “Yeah. If we combine our—”

“All… we need? All… you need?” She drew one shaky breath, “Or… all _he_ needs?”

He stilled just as she stepped back. “Marinette?”

“You—you’re—” She stared down at her hands then back up at him, “You’re on _his_ side, aren’t you?”

“Marinette, I don’t know what you’re talking abou—”

“He wants my miraculous, he’s been trying to force answers out of me for who knows how long, but he can’t get it so he sent _you_.”

“No, Marinette, it’s not like that—”

“What is it he told you? What lie did he use?” Marinette demanded. She couldn’t believe he would turn on her like that. How could he? Gabriel had barely been a father to him; being Hawkmoth only added to the pile of ashes that was their relationship.

“I-it’s not a lie,” Adrien stuttered, “He—I mean we—or the miraculouses—I-I don’t know, they can bring them all back.” His body shook. He didn’t know what to do. 

“That’s how you got out, isn’t it? You didn’t escape! He _let_ you out! Didn’t he?!”

He covered his eyes, willing the tears to stay inside. He was running, running down a long, dark corridor, his feet pounding as fast as his heartbeat. Everything was definitely _not_ okay.

His memories of the past twenty-four hours rewound over and over in his head like a movie, but they felt more like dreams— hazy and surreal. His father was Hawkmoth. Marinette was Ladybug. Alya was dead.

Everyone was dead.

But he wasn’t running down that long, dark corridor. That was in the past. He was sitting there in his home—and it felt more like a prison than ever. He wasn’t talking to his father. That was in the past, too. He was crouched, blocking out the sound of Marinette screaming, crying at him.

“He let _you_ out because he knew! He’s been trying this whole time to get my miraculous but nothing he could _ever_ do to me would make me give it up anymore! He’s already taken it all away, I’ve got _nothing_ left to lose!” Her tone grew higher, more strained, “He _knew_!” Her voice cracked, she struggled to breathe through her tears. “I wouldn’t give it to him so he sent _you_ , didn’t he?!”

If he clasped his hands tight enough over his ears, he couldn’t hear her anymore. But it was no help. Her voice was only replaced by the memory of his father’s.

“All I— _we_ need now is her miraculous, Adrien. That’s all we need and this whole nightmare can finally be over.” He sounded so tired. Adrien could imagine his own face looked as just as weary.

He could hear the footsteps, the clicking-clacking sound of his father’s dress shoes as he unlocked the door and reached into his pocket. He could see it right in front of him as his father opened his hand and right before his eyes gave him back his miraculous. “You can convince her,” He’d said, his voice cracking. He grit his teeth, holding back what Adrien could barely even believe were actual tears from his very own father. “She’ll listen to you.”

He was practically begging.

“Marinette.” Adrien mumbled between her screams. “Marinette, please.” He begged. Hell, he was already on his knees. “We can end this nightmare together.”

He forced himself to look up for her reply. He imagined everything. A hopeful smile. An angry spark in her eyes. Everything. But all he was met with was emptiness. Her face devoid of any emotion. There was no hope, no fiery gleam. There was nothing inside of her.

“No.” She said. “This isn’t a nightmare. We don’t get to wake up from this.”

 

* * *

  

Marinette curled into a ball, shivering in the corner of her cell-like room as she stared at the floor in an effort to curb her endless stream of thoughts. Outside, the storms had returned. Thunder roared and flooded the empty city. She’d been sitting in silence for hours ever since Adrien had finally picked himself off the floor and left. She was fixed to the spot, like her entire body had been forcibly glued there.

Not long ago, she used to dream of rain. Of an umbrella. And a boy. But now all that rain did was wash away the remains of Paris.

She barely perked up at a rustling sound at the door. His shadow cast through the crack between the door and the floor and darkened the room even more.

“Go away.” She groaned.

He didn’t reply but she knew he was still there. She could hear him fall against the door in exasperation. He always did that—fall over dramatically—that is. Maybe this time it was at least a little warranted, but she didn’t have the energy to admit it. He was trying to hide his haggard breathing, muffle it with his gloved hand maybe, but she could still hear him weeping. By now she knew the sound all too well. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“It was raining the day we met, you know.” Marinette finally broke the silence after what felt like an eternity. She wasn’t met with a response but she wasn’t exactly looking for one either. “Well, not the first day. Sort of. I guess it was the next day…” She drifted off, eyeing her fingers as they mindlessly danced over each other, lacing together and then tearing apart again and again. She sighed. “You said you had no friends, no one. Now you really don’t.”

The breathing on the other side of the door stopped, but the shadow didn’t move.

“You know for a while after that the rain used to wake me up—invigorate me in a way that only a transformation could match. I’d hear the sound of thunder and I would remember the way my heart pounded…” She pressed her palm against her chest. “The way you looked at me, like you could see through me—not like I was invisible to you—but that I was laid out and open for you to see everything inside of me all at once. Like all the drops of rain had washed away everything else for just a single moment.”

No movement, no sound. Nothing.

“You gave me your umbrella and it all stopped. You weren’t telling me to hide who I was. You were protecting me. A person can’t be open and bare like that and not break. You gave me your umbrella and I felt safe. In that moment I already knew I was in love with you. I barely even knew you and at the same time I felt like I knew everything about you.” Her hand slumped into her lap, fingers balling into a fist. “I guess I was wrong.” She glanced in the direction of the door. She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to reply or not. She was even less sure of what to say if he did.

“You can’t bring people back from the dead, Adrien. Maybe you can change time or reset everything, but you can’t bring them back. Not as they were before.” Closing her eyes, she finally let herself rest her head against the wall, “And if you could… well… I’m not sure that’s a power that I want.”

  

* * *

 

 The sound of the storm slowed to a light pitter-patter, just loud enough to be faintly heard from where Marinette sat curled against the wall. She’d finally reached a level of tired so overwhelming she couldn’t fight it anymore. The rainfall was no longer enough to mask a shuffling sound from somewhere outside the room. It was just enough to wake her up.

“Who’s there?” She asked with a start. “Adrien? Go away.”

The shuffling continued, growing more and more frantic. Marinette stewed in her corner until it was finally too much to bare. “Go away!” She groaned, jumping to her feet. As she stormed to the door, it dawned on her that there was no shadow coming from the sliver of light beneath it; there was no one out there.

“Hello?” She asked, her voice softer now.

She stood in silence for a moment, holding her breath and staying as still as she could as she strained to hear where the sound could be coming from. Until she finally looked up.

It was dark outside, very little light coming from the slit of a window high above her, but it was enough to cast the silhouette of the small little figure wrestling with the tiny window latch.

Tikki.

Her heart pounded. Was this a trick? Ever since the tower fell, Tikki had been nowhere to be found, and neither had her miraculous. She had no reason to believe Tikki would return for a failure like herself. She had no reason to believe Tikki even knew she was alive.

But hope still clawed at her heart and raked down her insides. Her head whipped from side to side, struggling to find a way to reach the latch. As Ladybug, she knew she could easily scale the wall in less time that it would take for her to snap, but right now, she wasn’t feeling very much like Ladybug, and she certainly wasn’t in any condition to scale anything.

“Hold on, Tikki!” She called up. “I’ll figure this out!”

She scanned the empty room, racking her brain for ideas. There was nothing to stand on. Nothing to reach. Nothing to use. How the hell did she ever do this when she was Ladybug?

She wanted to curl into a ball again and just pretend Tikki wasn’t there. What was the point anyway? How many times would she be reminded that everyone—her mother, her father, Alya, Nino, everyone in her class, all her friends— _everyone_ were… gone. How many times before she could finally forget?

Marinette collapsed to her knees, her joints aching, muscles sore, and eyes puffed and swollen. There wasn’t anything she could do. She rested her back against the wall so she wouldn’t have to look at Tikki’s silhouette, just above her, and as she did, her arm pressed against something cold—the air vent.

It was too small to crawl through, obviously. It was the size of an envelope. But the vent could still detach from the wall. Maybe she couldn’t crawl through the vent, or reach the window, or even fit through it if she could get up there, but Tikki would fit and windows were breakable.

Marinette, with just a slight sense of renewed vigor, pried the vent cover from the wall with what was left of her strength— and her fingernails—and went flying back as it slid out. Now she had something. _Something_.

She wasn’t quite sure it would work without her powers, but she didn’t care. Eyes shut tight and mouth pursed in concentration, Marinette flung the vent up towards the window and ducked as the shattered glass sprayed across the room. When she looked up, Tikki floated before her with weary smile.

 “We’ve got work to do.”

           

 

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took so fucking long to get this up. Believe it or not, school is hard-- specifically art school. Even more specifically, the foundation year of art school. I never considered stopping the fic, I just didn't have a lot of time or motivation. I'm a little upset I couldn't get it finished before the year mark, but hey, it is what it is. Don't worry, this is all going somewhere and the loss of, well, everyone, won't be for nothing. Anyway, I can't believe it's been more that a year since i started this. This is well over the longest things I've ever written and even though I'm not really all that into this show or its fandom anymore, I'm still glad I've written this. There should be approx. 1.5 chapters left (the last chapter is more of an epilogue than anything else) and then it will finally be done! Get ready for another climactic battle and whole metric fuckton of more angst!!!
> 
> In other news, y'all are welcome to check out my tumblr, @abbiwhozit. I don't post art on it as much as I used to, but I might be able to soon with summer break coming up in less than two months.  
> Also, if you like mlb merch (or other cool artsy merch) you should definitely check out my redbubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/abbiwhozit?asc=u  
> I'm broke af so every penny counts and I would love you forever if you'd consider buying something.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise this is actually going somewhere.


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